Hometown Weekly Report: March 19

The Checkers wrapped up their long home stand with a busy four-game split.

Week in Review

WBS 5, Checkers 2

The Penguins traveled to Charlotte for the first time this season and got the best of the Checkers. After Valentin Zykov got the home team on the board first, the Pens rattled off four consecutive tallies to blow the game wide open. The Checkers chipped away that lead thanks to a strike from Andrew Poturalski in the final minutes of the second, but Charlotte’s rally would never come together. The Penguins tacked on an empty netter late to seal the 5-2 win for former Checkers goalie Anthony Peters, who made 29 saves on the night. Full recap

Checkers 3, WBS 1

The Checkers were able to bounce back and get revenge the next night. A back and forth start to the contest yielded no goals until Julien Gauthier overpowered the visitors to open the scoring early in the middle frame. Former Penguin Greg McKegg then doubled Charlotte’s lead with a power-play marker before the second buzzer. The visitors would finally break through in the third to pull back within one, but McKegg struck again late in the frame to clinch Charlotte the rematch victory. Full recap

Checkers 4, Binghamton 2

Another new opponent visited Bojangles’ Coliseum days later as the Checkers hosted the Devils on Saturday night. The Devils took advantage of a near-immediate power play to jump on top, but Roland McKeown erased their lead quickly after with his seventh tally of the season. Charlotte’s offense surged from there, with Valentin Zykov getting his team the lead late in the first and rookie phenom Warren Foegele lighting the lamp early in the second. Binghamton cashed in on another power-play goal late in the second to draw within one heading into the third frame, but the Checkers would lock them down for the remainder of regulation. Lucas Wallmark tacked on one more late in the game for Charlotte to put the final score at 4-2. Full recap

Binghamton 4, Checkers 1

The Devils punched back hard in the following day’s rematch. An early hit by Josiah Didier that earned the blue liner a game misconduct and handed the Devils a five-minute power play to start the contest, which they converted on. Binghamton tacked on another power-play tally minutes later and that would be all they needed. Greg McKegg lit the lamp to continue his hot streak, but that would stand as Charlotte’s only power-play goal on eight opportunities during the contest. The Devils notched their third power-play marker of the first period quickly after, then netted an empty netter to ice the 4-1 victory for the visitors. Full recap

Three Stars Of The Week

Notables

PLAYOFF PICTURE

An even 2-2-0 week has kept the Checkers in the fourth and final Atlantic Division playoff spot. With 77 points, the Checkers hold a seven-point lead over Bridgeport, though the Sound Tigers have played two fewer games.

The Checkers have 10 games remaining on their schedule, six of which will be played on the road, while the Sound Tigers are on the road for seven of their remaining 12 contests.

Bridgeport will continue to hold a game in hand over the Checkers until their second-to-last game of the season, the day before closing out the regular season against Charlotte.

ZYKOV LIGHTS THE LAMP

With seven goals in his last eight games, Valentin Zykov continues to reign over the league. The first Russian-born AHLer to hit the 30-goal mark in a decade is currently on an eight-game point streak – tied for the longest by a Checker this year – and is within striking distance of the record books as his 32 goals put him just four shy of Zach Boychuk’s franchise-best 36 from the 2013-14 season.

WELCOME BACK WALLMARK

Since returning from his most recent NHL stint, Lucas Wallmark has been lights out for the Checkers. The Swede has notched at least one helper in every game since returning to Charlotte, racking up 10 points in his last six AHL games. That surge has rocketed Wallmark to 46 points (14g, 32a) in 40 games this season, which comes out to a 1.15 points per game average. The franchise record (assuming 10 or more games played) is 1.08 points per game, set by Zach Boychuk in 2010-11.

MCKEGG STANDS TALL

Since being acquired at the NHL trade deadline, Greg McKegg has been a consistent source of production for the Checkers. In nine games in a Charlotte sweater, the forward has racked up nine points (4g, 5a), including at least one in eight of those contests.

STAYING POSITIVE

The Charlotte blue line has a heavy presence in the AHL’s plus-minus leaderboard. After a strong surge as of late, second-year pro Roland McKeown is now tied for the league lead with a +35 rating. Not to be outdone, his defensive partner Philip Samuelsson ranks third with a +34 rating. Up front, Warren Foegele is tied for fourth among league rookies at +18.

As of now all three skaters would break the franchise record of +16, set last season by Haydn Fleury.

Ranks

• Valentin Zykov leads the lead in goals (32) and power-play goals (16), ranks second in shooting percentage (29.1) and power-play points (29), is tied for third in game-winning goals (7) and is tied for 9th in the AHL in scoring (52)
• Warren Foegele leads all rookies and is tied for fourth overall in goals (26), is tied for second in shorthanded goals (4) and shorthanded points (6), is tied for the league lead in game-winning goals (8), is tied for fourth among league rookies in plus-minus and is tied for seventh among rookies in scoring (42)
• Trevor Carrick is tied for third in the AHL in power-play assists, tied for eighth among blue liners in scoring (34) and ranks fifth among defensemen in power-play points (21)
• Roland McKeown is tied for the legue lead in plus-minus (+35)
• Philip Samuelsson ranks third in the AHL in plus-minus (+34)
• Alex Nedeljkovic leads the AHL in wins (29), ranks second in minutes played (2544), is tied for second in shutouts (5) and ranks fifth in saves (1009)
• Aleksi Saarela ranks fifth among league rookies in goals (20) and is tied for third in power-play goals (9)
• Janne Kuokkanen is tied for fifth among AHL rookies in assists (25)

INJURIES

• Andrew Miller missed 13 games starting 2/18
• Jake Chelios missed 11 games starting 2/24

Transactions

Incoming

• None

Outgoing

• None

Coming Up

By the Numbers

CATEGORY	RECORD	AHL RANK	LAST WEEK
Power play	20.3%	4th	4th
Penalty kill	81.0%	24th	t-21st
Goals per game	3.32	3rd	3rd
Shots per game	29.59	21st	20th
Goals allowed per game	2.91	17th	t-16th
Shots allowed per game	27.14	4th	3rd
Penalty minutes per game	12.08	9th	8th

LEADERS

CATEGORY	LEADER(S)
Points	Valentin Zykov (52), Andrew Miller (51), Lucas Wallmark (46)
Goals	Valentin Zykov (32), Warren Foegele (26), Aleksi Saarela (20)
Assists	Andrew Miller (36), Lucas Wallmark (32), Trevor Carrick (27)
Power play goals	Valentin Zykov (16), Aleksi Saarela (9), Andrew Poturalski (7)
Shorthanded goals	Warren Foegele (4), Nicolas Roy, Clark Bishop (2)
Game-winning goals	Warren Foegele (8), Valentin Zykov (7), Andrew Poturalski (6)
Shots on goal	Warren Foegele (138), Trevor Carrick (137), Aleksi Saarela (127)
Penalty minutes	Trevor Carrick (83), Josiah Didier (79), Patrick Brown (56)
Plus/minus	Roland McKeown (+35), Philip Samuelsson (+34), Warren Foegele (+18)
Wins	Alex Nedeljkovic (29)
Goals-against average	Alex Nedeljkovic (2.52)
Save percentage	Alex Nedeljkovic (.904)