THE MATCHUP
The Checkers are wrapping up their holiday road trip with a two-game set in Bridgeport. This marks the first time that these two squads will tangle on the Islanders’ home ice, but there have been four meetings in Charlotte. The Checkers have had the upper hand thus far - holding a 3-0-1-0 record and outscoring the Islanders 13-6 overall - but the most recent meeting in mid-December saw Bridgeport erase a two-goal deficit in the third and pick up the overtime win.THE STORYLINES
COMING IN
The Checkers enter tonight’s contest having gone through some ups and downs as of late - they’re 2-2-0-0 on this current trip - but they’ve seen an uptick overall, earning a point in eight of their last 10 contests. They’re right in the thick of a crowded Atlantic Division race, where the second through sixth spots are all separated by just a few points. On the other side, the Islanders remain in the cellar of the league standings and are 3-6-1-0 in their last 10.FEAST OR FAMINE
The good news for the Checkers is that they’ve scored at least five goals in three of their last five games - winning all three. The bad news is that they scored a single goal in each of the other two contests - losing both. Overall this season the Checkers are sporting a 10-1-0-0 record when hitting the four-goal mark, but are 6-11-3-0 when falling below that threshold.They’ll look to ramp up the offense this weekend against a Bridgeport squad that falls near the bottom of the league in terms of goals allowed per game and has allowed 24 goals over the last six contests.
FIRING RUBBER
The Checkers have come out firing over this most recent stretch of play. They have logged at least 30 shots in four of the last five games (falling one shy in Wednesday’s outing in Hershey) and have moved into the league’s top 10 in terms of shots recorded per game. Shot suppression has been one of the Islander’s strong suits, though, as they rank in top 10 in terms of shots allowed per game thus far.DALPE DIALS IN
Zac Dalpe has been a huge catalyst for the Charlotte offense as of late. The captain has pumped in five goals over the last five games - including back-to-back two-goal efforts during this trip. This hot streak has him on the cusp of making history, as he needs just one goal to match Zach Boychuk’s franchise record of 123 goals in a Charlotte sweater and another to become the franchise’s most prolific goal scorer.THE ONES TO WATCH
Charlotte
- Rasmus Asplund - 4 assists in last 4 games
- Zac Dalpe - 5 goals in last 5 games
- Uvis Balinskis - 8 points in last 8 games
Bridgeport
- Robin Salo - 6 points in last 7 games
- Dennis Cholowski - 4 points in last 4 games
- Otto Koivula - 10 points in last 7 games
