The Checkers are trekking out on a three-in-three swing over the weekend that kicks off Friday with the team directly behind them in the Atlantic Division standings - the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
THE MATCHUP
- Record/Standings
- CLT - 22-12-3-0 (3rd Atlantic)
- LV - 19-15-2-2 (4th Atlantic)
- Power Play / Penalty Kill
- CLT - 17.4% / 85.8%
- LV - 17.4% / 75.7%
- Offense / Defense
- CLT - 3.27 GF/Game / 2.78 GA/Game
- LV - 2.74 GF/Game / 2.87 GA/Game
- Head-To-Head
- 1-0-0-0
THE STORYLINES
BUSY WEEKEND
This weekend was the only three-games-in-three-days stretch on Charlotte’s schedule to start the season, but because of a weather-related schedule change this is actually the second time this has happened to the team thus far. The Checkers played the Bears, Phantoms and Penguins on consecutive nights on Dec. 28, 29 and 30 - respectively - and came away with the win in all three contests. This weekend the Checkers will face the same three teams in a slightly varied order, going from Lehigh Valley to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to Hershey.Overall this season the Checkers have posted the third-best road points percentage in the Eastern Conference.
NEW FACES
Two new additions have been added to the Charlotte roster heading into this road trip.The first is Noah Gregor, who was assigned from Florida earlier in the week. The 27-year-old has 317 NHL games under his belt - including 24 this season with Florida - and hasn’t played in the AHL since the 2021-22 season. A fourth-round pick by San Jose in 2016, Gregor was an impact player in this league as a member of the Barracuda, though, accumulating 40 points (14g, 26a) in 43 games - including an impressive 12 points in eight games during that 2021-22 campaign.The second reinforcement came in the form of Jack Studnicka, who returned from an extended stint with the Panthers. Studnicka - who missed a month of this season due to injury - has notched six points (1g, 5a) in eight games in a Charlotte sweater thus far, with his most recent outing coming on Nov. 29.
HOT HANDS
Several Checkers skaters enter the weekend riding hot streaks. Jack Devine has piled up eight points (3g, 5a) over his current five-game point streak and now ranks in the top 10 among league rookies in goals, assists and points, while Ben Steeves has amassed nine points over his last six contests. Robert Mastrosimone has been a key producer since his recall from the ECHL, sitting with 13 points (6g, 7a) in 18 games this season and six in the last four alone. And then there’s Nolan Foote, who has racked up 16 points (8g, 8a) over the last 15 games - in fact, since Dec. 14 only six players in the AHL have produced more than Foote.THE PLAYERS TO WATCH
- Charlotte
- Jack Devine - 8 points in last 5 games
- Trevor Carrick - 4 points in last 3 games
- Nolan Foote - 14 points in last 12 games
- Lehigh Valley
- Maxence Guenette - 6 points in last 8 games
- Oliver Bonk - 4 points in last 6 games
- Phil Tomasino - 2 points in last 3 games
THE INFO
All three games this weekend - as well as every game this season - 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.
