After a strong start on the road, the Checkers are back under the Bojangles Coliseum roof and ready to kick off the home portion of their schedule against Cleveland.
THE MATCHUP
- Record/Standings
- CLT - 2-0-0-0 (1st Atlantic)
- CLE - 1-1-0-0 (6th North)
- Power Play / Penalty Kill
- CLT - 22.2% (t-10th) / 92.9% (8th)
- CLE - 25.0% (t-7th) / 71.4% (28th)
- Offense / Defense
- CLT - 5.00 GF/Game (t-1st), 3.00 GA/Game (t-16th)
- CLE - 4.50 GF/Game (t-3rd), 5.00 GA/Game (32nd)
- Head-To-Head
- 0-0-0-0
THE STORYLINES
OFFENSIVE FIREWORKS
This weekend pits two of the league’s hottest offensive attacks against each other. The Checkers lead the league with 10 total goals already, including seven in their wild win over the Penguins last weekend, while the Monsters sit just a shade under that with nine tallies thus far.On the flip side, the Checkers shook off that high-flying battle against the Pens and clamped down the Islanders the next day en route to a 3-0 shutout win. The Monsters have had a harder go defensively, surrendering 10 goals over their two-game set against the defending champion Bears.
KILLING IT
The Checkers ran into some penalty trouble on the road, but their PK has stepped up to the plate. Charlotte has successfully killed 13 of 14 penalties thus far - including nine straight entering the weekend. Beyond that, the Checkers have flipped the script and scored three shorthanded goals already - including two off the stick of Rasmus Asplund.They’ll face a test in a Cleveland squad that ranks in the league’s top 10 on the man advantage and boasts a pair of skaters who scored 60+ points last season - Rocco Grimaldi and Trey Fix-Wolansky.
POINT PRODUCERS
Aidan McDonough made a splash in the season-opening road trip by posting a hat trick in game one and adding another goal the next day - with his four tallies earning the second-year forward AHL Player of the Week honors. McDonough currently shares the team scoring lead with Asplund, who helped pace the Charlotte offense and kept his hot hand from a season ago going.Across the ice, Cleveland has been powered thus far by a pair of five-point producers in Fix-Wolansky and Luca Del Bel Belluz - the latter of whom has a four-point game under his belt already.
STARTED BLASTING
The Checkers are putting the puck on net at the second-highest pace in the AHL thus far, hitting the 38-shot mark in each of their first two contests - a clip that outpaces their third-ranked output last season.THE QUOTES
Defenseman Trevor Carrick on his return to Bojangles Coliseum as a Checkers“It feels good, I’m looking forward to this home opener. It feels good to be back, we’re all settled here, it’s nice to see some familiar faces and I’m looking forward to seeing some of the fans out.”
Carrick on the team's mindset
“I don’t think we’re too worried about Cleveland, I think at this point in the season we’re just worried about ourselves and continuing to find chemistry within our teammates in the locker room and keep building. For us it’s just trying to bring the work ethic every single game, I think the chemistry will come throughout the season. Right now we’re just trying to build within the room and get to know each other.”
Head Coach Geordie Kinnear on his team coming off two wins on the road
“So I think the opening game was an education for a lot of players - older guys included - that the real season has begun. It was real competitive, Wilkes is going to be a very good hockey team with a lot of skill. There weren’t a lot of plays to be made. We took that education and started building some more structure for the next game, but as I said, super excited about the good people we have and the good competitors we have. We can build off of that.”
THE INFO
Get to the Coliseum early on Friday, we’re throwing a party to kick off Opening Weekend, presented by Novant Health! There will be live music in front of the box office from 5-6:30 courtesy of Time Sawyer, plus Novant Health will be handing out schedule posters to fans entering the Coliseum while supplies last!For Saturday's game, we're offering discounted tickets to kids, college students and teachers and school employees!
We’re also teaming up with The Independence Fund to collect supplies to help those affected by Hurricane Helene at both games this weekend.
If you can't make it to the Coliseum this weekend, both games - along with every game this season - are available via the new AHLTV on FloHockey! Click here to get a subscription.
You can also listen live on the Charlotte Checkers App for iOS and Android!
For the full list of broadcast options, click here.
