Game Preview: Checkers vs Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (February 15, 2022)

The Checkers are looking to keep their positive momentum going as they host their division rival Penguins for a pair of midweek tilts.

QUICK HITS

BACK ON TRACK

After entering Saturday’s tilt against the Islanders having lost two straight games, the Checkers righted the ship with a thrilling 2-0 win. With that, the Checkers have not registered more than two consecutive regulation losses this season.

KNIGHT'S TIME

Spencer Knight notched his first pro shutout on Saturday, turning aside all 25 shots he faced against the Islanders. The rookie netminder has now won each of his last three starts for Charlotte and surrendered a total of four goals across that stretch. Knight has now stopped 86 of the last 89 shots he has seen with the Checkers.

FINISH STRONG

The Checkers have scored 11 goals in the third period over the last six games and have posted multiple tallies in the third period in four of their last six contests. Charlotte’s 51 total goals in the third period is the most in the AHL.

WELCOME TO CHARLOTTE

After being claimed off of waivers by Seattle and assigned to Charlotte on Wednesday, Dennis Cholowski lit the lamp in his Checkers debut on Friday – his first AHL contest of the season and his first game action at any level since Jan. 22 – and then followed it up with a helper in Saturday’s win.

LIND LIGHTS IT UP

Dating back to a two-goal outburst on Dec. 10, Kole Lind has been on a tear that has seen him rack up 20 points in his last 21 games. The Kraken prospect has been a consistent force offensively for the Checkers, entering tonight’s contest on a three-game point streak and having found the score sheet in 10 of his last 12 games.

QUOTES

Checkers defenseman Matt Kiersted on the takeaways from this past weekend's series against the Islanders
"Those type of games are what we’re going to see down the stretch here. That was playoff hockey. We slipped up on Friday and let them have that one so Saturday we really dug in. It was a full team effort and it’s nice to see us pull out those close ones."

Kiersted on his team coming up big in clutch situations
"I think it’s just about staying in the moment. There’s a lot of mental preparation. We’ve all been in situations like that before, whether it be in pro hockey or before. It’s about taking those moments from your past and putting that into your game now."

Kiersted on the positives of Charlotte finding success in different types of games
"I think it says alot about our team that we can win putting six goals up or we can win a 2-0 game. It shows that we can play both styles of play."


Kiersted on preparing for this series against the Penguins
"It’s the same approach we have for every game, really. It’s the middle of the regular season but these points matter just as much as the ones at the end. We’ve got to have the mindset that we need to grab as many points as we can right now."

COMING IN

CLT: 2-3-0-0 in last five games this season

WBS: 2-2-1-0 in last five games this season

WHO TO WATCH

CLT

Scott Wilson - 13 points in last 13 games

Kole Lind - 12 points in last 12 games

Cale Fleury – 9 points in last 10 games

WBS

Pierre-Olivier Joseph – 7 points in last 7 games

Juuso Riikola – 8 points in last 13 games

Alexander Nylander – 10 points in last 12 games

PROMOS

TUNE IN

Tonight's game starts at 7 p.m. If you can't be at the Coliseum, you can tune in to every broadcast this season with a subscription to the league’s streaming platform AHLTV.

As always, the radio broadcast will be available via the Checkers app on iPhone or Android.