Hometown Weekly Report: November 20

It was a tough week for the Checkers, as they limped to the end of their extended road trip on a four-game losing streak. They’ll have a chance to turn things around on home ice as they head into a busy four-game week.

Week in Review

Springfield 5, Checkers 2

Facing the Springfield Thunderbirds in a rare morning game, the Checkers let the lead get away from them in a tough defeat. A tightly contested first was capped by strikes from both squads inside the final two minutes of the period, followed by both sides again trading goals early in the second. Warren Foegele’s league-leading third shorthanded goal of the season gave the visitors a lead just past the midway point, but the Thunderbirds again had an answer. Deadlocked heading into the third, the games looked to be destined for overtime until the Checkers were assessed back-to-back penalties in the waning minutes of regulation. With a two-man advantage, Springfield was able to break the tie with less than 90 second to play, then tap in an empty netter to wrap up a win for the home team. Full recap

Springfield 4, Checkers 0

The Checkers were back in Springfield two nights later with hopes of getting revenge, but those were nixed by a stifling Thunderbirds defensive effort. The home team opened the scoring in the first, then things fell silent until halfway through the third. With the Checkers surging in hopes of evening the score, the Thunderbirds lit the lamp twice within two minutes of each other to blow the game wide open. Despite outshooting their opponent 32-18 over the course of the game and 22-12 through the final two frames, the Checkers couldn’t muster up any offense, suffering their second shutout of the season. Full recap

Bridgeport 5, Checkers 2

Finally facing down the end of their longest road trip this season, the Checkers looked to finish things off on a high note in Bridgeport, but the Sound Tigers had other plans. The home squad jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to consecutive strikes on Charlotte netminder Alex Nedeljkovic, but Aleksi Saarela’s power-play snipe cut that lead in half heading into the second. The middle frame was bookmarked by Springfield tallies, with Connor Jones netting one in the first minute and Devon Toews getting one in the final minute. The Checkers were able to pull back within two midway through the third with Valentin Zykov’s league-leading sixth power-play goals of the year, but it was too little, too late. The Sound Tigers held their ground and added one more into the empty net to skate away 5-2 winners. Full recap

Three Stars Of The Week

Notables

ON THE SKIDS

By dropping Saturday’s road trip finale, the Checkers have now lost four straight games. That marks the team’s longest such skid this season and the second-longest active streak in the AHL.

Prior to this losing skid, the Checkers hadn’t dropped consecutive games this season.

POWERING UP

The Checkers continue to consistently produce on the man advantage. The team has notched five power-play goals over the last four games, with Saturday standing as the fourth time this season they have notched multiple power-play goals in a single game. In fact, the Checkers have only been held without a power-play goal in five games this season.

Leading the charge on that front have been Valentin Zykov, whose six power-play tallies lead the entire AHL, and Trevor Carrick, who has put up six helpers on the man advantage thus far. Charlotte’s strong play has yielded a 20.3 percentage on the power play, which is tied for seventh in the AHL.

Looking ahead, the Checkers could be in a position to raise that percentage even more this week, as they’ll face the 24th and 20th ranked penalty kill in Belleville and Providence, respectively.

ZYKOV TAKES OVER

Valentin Zykov’s success hasn’t been limited to the power play this season. The forward is tied for third in the AHL with 10 goals this season and has drawn even with the injured Lucas Wallmark for the team lead with 15 points. Zykov, who is well on his way to eclipsing his career high offensive numbers from a year ago, has not gone more than two games without finding the score sheet this season.

SHORTHANDED SUCCESS

The Checkers currently sit atop the AHL with four shorthanded goals this season, and much of that has been driven by the play of Warren Foegele. The rookie converted a breakaway Wednesday morning in Springfield to notch his third shorthanded goal of the season, a mark that not only gave him the league lead, but tied the Checkers’ single-season record. Foegele now just needs one to surpass Zac Dalpe in the franchise record book.

The AHL record for shorthanded goals in a season is 11, set in 1982-83 by Gary McAdam.

Ranks

• Valentin Zykov is tied for third in the AHL in goals and leads the league in power-play goals
• Warren Foegele leads the AHL in shorthanded goals and points, is tied for second among league rookies in goals and ranks fifth among rookies in shooting percentage
• Alex Nedeljkovic is tied for fifth in the AHL in wins

INJURIES

• Jake Chelios missed eight games starting Nov. 3
• Lucas Wallmark missed five games starting Nov. 10
• Dennis Robertson missed 1 game starting Nov. 18

Transactions

Incoming

• None

Outgoing

• None

Coming Up

By the Numbers

CATEGORY	RECORD	AHL RANK	LAST WEEK
Power play	20.3%	t-7th	7th
Penalty kill	83.8%	t-10th	13th
Goals per game	3.59	3rd	2nd
Shots per game	28.35	23rd	21st
Goals allowed per game	3.24	19th	t-12th
Shots allowed per game	29.82	15th	21st
Penalty minutes per game	13.00	9th	10th

CATEGORY	LEADER(S)
Points	Lucas Wallmark, Valentin Zykov (15), Andrew Miller (14)
Goals	Valentin Zykov (10), Warren Foegele (8), Andrew Poturalski, Andrew Miller (5)
Assists	Lucas Wallmark (11), Andrew Miller (9), Trevor Carrick (8)
Power play goals	Valentin Zykov (6), Nick Schilkey, Andrew Poturalski (2)
Shorthanded goals	Warren Foegele (3), Nicolas Roy (1)
Game-winning goals	Warren Foegele, Valentin Zykov, Andrew Poturalski (2)
Shots on goal	Andrew Poturalski (35),Trevor Carrick (32),Valentin Zykoc (31)
Penalty minutes	Trevor Carrick (27), Patrick Brown (25), Zack Stortini (23)
Plus/minus	Philip Samuelsson (+8), Lucas Wallmark (+7), Patrick Brown (+6)
Wins	Alex Nedeljkovic (7)
Goals-against average	Alex Nedeljkovic (2.69)
Save percentage	Alex Nedeljkovic (.904)