Hometown Weekly Report: March 27, 2018

The Checkers picked up a crucial weekend sweep in Laval to help solidify their hold on a playoff spot.

Week in Review

Checkers 3, Laval 2 (OT)

Charlotte headed to Laval for the first time and, despite facing cellar-dwelling Rocket team, needed a strong rally to come away with the victory. A tally in each of the first two frames and a solid performance from Charlie Lindgren gave the home squad a 2-0 advantage through 40 minutes of play, but Charlotte woke up in the third. Aleksi Saarela fired a one-timer to put the visitors on the scoreboard midway through the period, then Lucas Wallmark hammered home the game-tying goal in the final five minutes of play, sending the contest to overtime. After weathering a heavy push from the Rocket early in the extra frame, the Checkers swung back the other way, with Janne Kuokkanen delivering a drop pass to the red-hot Wallmark, who fired it past Lindgren to win the game for Charlotte. Full recap

Checkers 5, Laval 3

The Checkers kept their momentum rolling in the following day’s rematch. After Aleksi Saarela opened the scoring in the first, Greg McKegg and Andrew Poturalski both lit the lamp in the second to give Charlotte a commanding 3-0 lead through two periods of play. Poturalski and Saarela both notched their second goals of the night in the third, and though the Rocket would surge back in a rally attempt, the Checkers locked things down to finish off their season sweep of Laval. Full recap

Three Stars Of The Week

Notables

PLAYOFF PICTURE

This weekend prove beneficial for Charlotte’s playoff hopes. The Checkers took care of their business by sweeping their two-game set in Laval, while the trailing Sound Tigers split their pair of contests over the weekend.

As it stands now, the Checkers hold a nine-point lead over Bridgeport for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Atlantic Division. The Sound Tigers have played two fewer games than the Checkers, however, and will continue to hold at least one game in hand until their second-to-last contest of the season, which comes the day before the season finale in which Charlotte and Bridgeport face off head to head.

While most of the focus is centered on the Checkers fending off Bridgeport for fourth place, their recent hot streak has put them within striking distance of the spots ahead of them. The Checkers trail Wilkes-Barre/Scranton by three points for third place and Providence by four points for second in the division. Again, however, both of those squads hold two games in hand over Charlotte.

RETURN OF THE KING

His returning to the Checkers from his most recent NHL stint, Lucas Wallmark has been lights out. The Swede recorded five points over the weekend to keep up his breakneck pace and now has 15 points in his last eight contests. Wallmark now has 51 points in 42 games this season, already surpassing his rookie totals from a year ago in 25 fewer games. In fact, the 22-year-old leads all AHL skaters with at least 20 games played in points-per-game by averaging 1.21 each contest, a number that would shatter the franchsie record of 1.07 set by Zach Boychuk in 2013-14.

OVERTIME HEROES

By defeating the Rocket on Friday, the Checkers improved to a perfect 3-0 in overtime games this season. Charlotte has only had six games go beyond 60 minutes this season, tied for the fewest in the league, but is the only team without an overtime loss.

The Checkers’ top two scorers have been the overtime heroes thus far this season, with Valentin Zykov notching two overtime winners and Lucas Wallmark picking up Friday’s.

SAARELA STRIKES AGAIN

While Warren Foegele has taken a lot of the highlights, he’s not the only rookie on the roster making a splash offensively. With three goals in Laval over the weekend, Aleksi Saarela brought his total to 23 on the season, moving up to third among league rookies and within three of Foegele’s league lead.

Saarela’s 23 goals are tied with Zac Dalpe for the third-most by a rookie in franchise history and stand as the most by any Finnish skater in the AHL this season.

SOLID ADDITION

Since being acquired at the trade deadline, Greg McKegg has stepped right in and helped bolster Charlotte’s offense. After recording 12 points in 28 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton earlier this season, the forward has already eclipsed that with the Checkers by racking up 13 points in his first 11 games with the club. McKegg has recorded at least one point in all but one of his games with Charlotte and has become a key contributor on the power play, with three tallies on the man advantage under his belt.

Ranks

• Valentin Zykov leads the league in goals (32) and power-play goals (16), is tied for 15th in scoring (52) and ranks second in power-play points (29) and shooting percentage (29.1)
• Warren Foegele leads all AHL rookies in goals (26), ranks eighth among rookies in scoring (42), is tied for second in shorthanded goals (4) and points (6), is tied for the league lead in game-winning goals, and ranks fifth among rookies in both shooting percentage (18.6) and plus-minus (+18)
• Trevor Carrick is tied for fourth in the AHL in power-play assists (19), ranks eighth among league blue liners in assists (28) and points (35) and ranks fifth among AHL defensemen in power-play points (21)
• Philip Samuelsson leads the league in plus-minus (+37)
• Roland McKeown ranks third in the AHL in plus-minus (+35)
• Alex Nedeljkovic leads the AHL in wins (31), ranks second in minutes played (3073) and ranks third in shutouts (5)
• Aleksi Saarela ranks third among AHL rookies in goals (23), is tied for 16th in rookie scoring (36) and is tied for second among rookies in power-play goals (10)

INJURIES

• Andrew Miller missed 15 games starting 2/18
• Jake Chelios missed 13 games starting 2/24

Transactions

Incoming

• March 22: (D) Matt Finn recalled from Florida (ECHL)
• March 21: (D) Zack Kamrass signed to PTO

Outgoing

• March 25: (RW) Warren Foegele recalled by Carolina (NHL)
• March 21: (D) Roland McKeown recalled by Carolina (NHL)

Coming Up

By the Numbers

CATEGORY	RECORD	AHL RANK	LAST WEEK
Power play	20.2%	4th	4th
Penalty kill	80.9%	25th	24th
Goals per game	3.34	3rd	3rd
Shots per game	29.75	19th	21st
Goals allowed per game	2.90	t-14th	17th
Shots allowed per game	27.01/td>	4th	4th
Penalty minutes per game	11.84	8th	9th

LEADERS

CATEGORY	LEADER(S)
Points	Valentin Zykov (52), Andrew Miller, Lucas Wallmark (51)
Goals	Valentin Zykov (32), Warren Foegele (26), Aleksi Saarela (23)
Assists	Andrew Miller (36), Lucas Wallmark (35), Trevor Carrick (28)
Power play goals	Valentin Zykov (16), Aleksi Saarela (10), Andrew Poturalski (7)
Shorthanded goals	Warren Foegele (4), Nicolas Roy, Clark Bishop (2)
Game-winning goals	Warren Foegele (8), Valentin Zykov, Andrew Poturalski (7)
Shots on goal	Warren Foegele (140), Trevor Carrick (138), Aleksi Saarela (137)
Penalty minutes	Trevor Carrick (83), Josiah Didier (79), Zack Stortini (57)
Plus/minus	Philip Samuelsson (+37), Roland McKeown (+35), Warren Foegele (+18)
Wins	Alex Nedeljkovic (31)
Goals-against average	Alex Nedeljkovic (2.52)
Save percentage	Alex Nedeljkovic (.904)