Bojangles Game Preview: Oct. 13 vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

Before the Checkers take the ice this season, we’re breaking down everything fans need to know with the Bojangles Game Preview!

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THE MATCHUP

The wait is finally over - the Checkers kick off the 2023-24 season tonight at Bojangles Coliseum, where they’ll take on their division rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The two squads met eight times a season ago, with the Checkers posting a 5-2-0-1 record against the Penguins - who finished the campaign in the cellar of the Atlantic Division.

THE STORYLINES

Getting Started

This marks the second straight season that the Checkers have opened up at Bojangles Coliseum - beating the Wolf Pack 4-3 in overtime a year ago. Overall, the Checkers are 6-5-1-0 in season openers over their tenure in the AHL, although last year’s victory marked their first opening-night win in three seasons.

On The Home Front

The Checkers will be looking to reverse their fortunes on home ice this season. They fared worse on home ice last season than they did on the road - 17-14-3-2 vs 22-11-2-1, respectively - and went 2-5-2-1 over the final 10 home games of the regular season.

Big Guns Stick Around

Charlotte’s high-end scorers are back for another round, as the team is returning two of its top three point getters from a year ago and three of the top four goal scorers. That’s positive news for a Checkers squad that ranked second in the Atlantic Division in goals per game last season and ninth in the AHL overall.

True Story

A familiar face is back on the Charlotte roster this season, as Alexander True joined the Panthers organization over the summer. The forward led the Checkers in scoring during the 2021-22 season as a member of the Seattle Kraken organization, and last season he helped guide the Coachella Valley Firebirds to a Western Conference title.

THE ONES TO WATCH

Charlotte

• Lucas Carlsson - 54 points in 61 AHL games last season
• Gerry Mayhew - 24 goals in 69 AHL games last season
• Will Lockwood - 30 points in 43 AHL games last season

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

• Valtteri Puustinen - 59 points in 72 AHL games last season
• Alex Nylander - 50 points in 55 AHL games last season
• Vinnie Hinostroza - 9 points in 11 AHL games last season

THE QUOTES

Head coach Geordie Kinnear on finally playing games after an intense training camp
It’s what you work for. It’s what makes hockey great, the one-on-one battles, the competition. When you go against your teammates obviously you need to be wary of the intensity that you go in a puck battle, now the real thing begins. As an athlete it’s what you cherish the most.

Kinnear on how his team has come together thus far
It’s been great. Each year goes by and there’s changes and you have to adapt a little bit as a coach with the personnel that you have. But we want to play a certain way, it doesn't matter the skill level or what players are here or what goaltenders or D. We have a certain identity that we want to live up to. They’ve done a great job through the three weeks of starting to build that identity, but you have to get into a real game to really start.

Kinnear on what he wants to see from the players from the first puck drop
One-on-one battles. That’s one of the things that you can control - your work ethic, playing how we want you to play, your one-on-one battles. We’ll work on the other stuff. As long as the work is there, it’s a great starting point. That’s what we’re built on, that’s one of our identities, being a hard-working team.

Kinnear on playing in front of the fans at the Coliseum
That’s what makes Charlotte special. The community, the environment, the fans, the energy. I’ve always said to our group, we want to make our community proud of how we play, win or lose. That’s our number one objective to start and we’ll build off of that.

THE PROMOS

THE INFO

Puck drops on tonight’s game at 7 p.m., with doors opening one hour before that. If you can’t make it to the Coliseum tonight, you can listen to the game for free on the Checkers app or watch on AHLTV, which is free for this weekend.