The road trip rolls on as the Checkers visit Utica for their first matchup with the Comets this season.
THE MATCHUP
- Record/Standings
- CLT - 33-18-3-3 (4th Atlantic)
- UTC - 23-28-4-2 (7th North)
- Power Play / Penalty Kill
- CLT - 22.6% (4th) / 87.0% (1st)
- UTC - 19.5% (t-9th) / 77.2% (28th)
- Offense / Defense
- CLT - 3.16 GF/Game (15th) / 2.60 GA/Game (t-3rd)
- UTC - 2.61 GF/Game (30th) / 3.14 GA/Game (20th)
- Head-To-Head
- 0-0-0-0
THE STORYLINES
HEAD NORTH
The Checkers are at the midway point of their trek through the North Division, having gone 2-1-0-0 against Rochester and Toronto last week. They are in Utica tonight and Saturday for their first two tilts against the Comets this season, with a visit to Rochester sandwiched in between.Thus far the Checkers are 6-4-0-1 against North Division opponents this season.
BATTLE FOR THE ATLANTIC
The second (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton), third (Providence) and fourth (Charlotte) place teams in the Atlantic Division are all in a bottle neck as they jockey for a first-round bye, and Wednesday night gives the Checkers a chance to make a move up the standings. They are the only team of the three in action, and a win would move them into a tie with the Penguins for second place with 74 points through 58 games.The Checkers can also lower their magic number to clinch a playoff berth from eight to six with a win against the Comets.
LEONARD LIGHTS IT UP
With a power-play tally in Sunday’s win over Toronto, John Leonard now has five goals in his last five games.His tear goes beyond that as well, as only one player in the AHL has more goals than Leonard’s nine since Feb. 16.
Leonard’s goal total for the season now sits at 28, which ranks third in the AHL behind Texas’ Matej Blumel and Toronto’s Alex Steeves - who each have 33. With 15 games left on the slate, Leonard needs two more to become the sixth player in franchise history to hit the 30-goal mark in a season and eight more to match Zach Boychuk’s franchise record of 36 from the 2013-14 campaign.
THE MILESTONES
- John Leonard is two shy of becoming fifth player in franchise history to score 30 goals in a season
- John Leonard and Rasmus Asplund are both one shy of setting single-season franchise records for shorthanded goals and shorthanded points
- Trevor Carrick is one shy of tying franchise single-season record for power-play goals by a defenseman (Mark Flood - 8 in 2013-14)
THE PLAYERS TO WATCH
- Charlotte
- John Leonard - 11 points (9g, 2a) in last 12 games
- Justin Sourdif - Five points (2g, 3a) in last three games
- Jesse Puljujarvi - Four points (2g, 2a) in last four games
- Utica
- Joe Gambardella - Four points (2g, 2a) in last four games
- Nolan Foote - Nine points (3g, 6a) in last 11 games
- Nathan Legare - Seven points (4g, 3a) in last nine games
THE INFO
Tonight's game in Utica - along with every game this season - is available via the new AHLTV on FloHockey! Click here to get a subscription.For the full list of broadcast options, click here!
