Charlotte’s final road trip of the regular season wraps up this weekend with the team’s lone trip north of the border to face the Marlies.
THE MATCHUP
- Record/Standings
- CLT - 40-21-5-0 (3rd Atlantic)
- TOR - 32-23-5-5 (3rd North)
- Power Play / Penalty Kill
- CLT - 14.2% (27th) / 84.2% (6th)
- TOR - 17.9% (t-19th) / 83.8% (8th)
- Offense / Defense
- CLT - 3.32 GF/Game (t-8th) / 2.70 GA/Game (8th)
- TOR - 3.18 GF/Game (13th) / 3.15 GA/Game (t-18th)
- Head-To-Head
- 1-1-0-0
THE STORYLINES
THE PLAYOFF RACE
With six games left on their regular season slate, the Checkers have locked in at least a third-place finish in the Atlantic Division - which would mean the entirety of a best-of-three first round series would be played at Bojangles Coliseum. There is still a chance that they could move into second place and secure a first-round bye, though.The Checkers head into the two-game weekend five points behind the Penguins, who hold one game in hand over them and similarly play on Friday and Saturday.
POWERING UP
After trudging through a 15-game drought, the Charlotte power play has started to find success as of late. The Checkers scored once on three opportunities in Wednesday’s win over Rochester, and it marked the first time that they had back-to-back games with a power-play goal since February 14 and 16. Overall Charlotte has scored on the man advantage in three of its last five contests.The Checkers will be looking to keep that momentum rolling against a Toronto squad that boasts the eighth-ranked penalty kill in the AHL.
JANSSON STEPS UP
With Mike Benning, Tobias Bjornfot and Mikulas Hovorka all up with Florida, the depth of Charlotte’s blue line has been tested during this trip. The d-corp has been up to the task, though, and one skater in particular who has made an impact has been Ludvig Jansson. After posting six points through his first 24 games of the season, the rookie has found the scoresheet in each of his last three appearances (March 21, 29 and April 1) - the latter two of which have come on the man advantage.THE PLAYERS TO WATCH
- Charlotte
- Ludvig Jansson - 3 points in last 3 games
- Sandis Vilmanis - 7 points in last 5 games
- Jakc Devine - 2 points in last 2 games
- Toronto
- Andrew Shaw - 11 points in last 7 games
- William Villeneuve - 8 points in last 9 games
- Alex Nylander - 16 points in last 9 games
THE INFO
Both of this weekend's games are available to stream via AHLTV on FloHockey! Click here to watch.Fans can also listen to the radio broadcast on the Checkers App or online.
