THE MATCHUP
The Checkers are heading out on the road for the first time this season, traveling to Toronto for a pair of afternoon tilts against the defending North Division champs. Charlotte is coming off a triumphant win last Saturday against the Penguins to pull off an opening-weekend split, while the Marlies dropped their first game in overtime to Rochester before bouncing back for a big win against Utica - with both contests coming on home ice.THE STORYLINES
ROAD WARRIORS
The Checkers fared significantly better on the road than at home last season, going 17-14-3-2 at Bojangles Coliseum and 22-11-2-1 away from the Queen City. In fact, that stellar road record was tied for the second-best such mark in the Eastern Conference.The Checkers were 7-2-0-0 in their final nine road games last season, a hot streak that included a two-game sweep of Toronto in which they outscored the Marlies 9-1.
LOCKING IT DOWN
The biggest strength that emerged for Charlotte during opening weekend was their ability to lock up the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton offense. A pair of late empty netters inflated the Penguins’ victory on Friday, but otherwise the Checkers surrendered just two goals over 118 minutes of hockey with a goalie between the pipes.They’ll be put to the test in Toronto, as the Marlies racked up nine total goals through their first two contests - hanging four in an OT loss and five more the following day.
GOALIES STAND TALL
A key aspect of Charlotte’s strong defensive play last weekend was the performances from Spencer Knight and Mack Guzda between the pipes. The former took the crease for his first game action since Feb. 18 and was solid for the Checkers - keeping them within striking distance until the end - while the latter turned in a 32-save gem to push Charlotte into the win column.On the other side of the ice, Toronto has deployed a pair of netminders on opposite ends of the experience spectrum. There’s Martin Jones - a veteran of nearly 500 NHL games who put on a strong showing in the Marlies lone win - and Keith Petruzzelli - a third-year pro who has split his time between the AHL and ECHL and was saddled with the overtime loss in Toronto’s opener.
KINNUNEN KILLS IT
Coming off a strong first season in North America, Santtu Kinnunen is looking to take things to a new level in year two, and his early performances are certainly promising. The blue liner leads the team with four points through the first two contests - all helpers - and he continued to push the offense throughout those games.THE ONES TO WATCH
Charlotte
- Santtu Kinnunen - 4 points in last 2 games
- Patrick Khodorenko - 2 goals in last game
- Zac Dalpe - 2 assists in last game
Toronto
- Logan Shaw - 4 points in last 2 games
- Nicholas Robertson - 5 points in last 2 games
- Bobby McMann - 3 points in last 2 games
THE QUOTES
Head coach Geordie Kinnear on the focus of practice this weekJust keep building. We showed them why we were successful in certain areas of the game, why we weren’t in other areas, things to improve on - individually and collectively. I thought it was a good week of work.
Kinnear on managing his group
You look at it, it was two games together as a group. The group has changed a little bit, so we have to always - not adjust, but keep building our identity and how we want to play. Each player has to do their part daily in getting better to allow us to be a real good hockey team down the way.
Kinnear on his special teams units
Five guys have to be on the same page. You have to prioritize what you’re working on - special teams is important so we gave it a little bit of time before, but we wanted to give it more time this week and continue to build there. We have a lot of things to work on and that’s one of them.
