Weekly Report: Apr. 8, 2019

The Checkers took three out of four games during a busy week to wrap up the home portion of their regular season.

Week in Review

Checkers 5, Lehigh Valley 1

The Checkers made quick work of the Phantoms in the first leg of their final visit to the Queen City. An early power-play goal from Tomas Jurco set the tone and it would be all Charlotte from there. Aleksi Saarela would find the net in both the first and second periods, while rookie Stelio Mattheos knocked home his second career goal to give Charlotte a substantial 4-0 lead through 40 minutes of play. The Phantoms would finally breakthrough in the third to put the only blemish on Alex Nedeljkovic’s otherwise stellar stat line, but a Julien Gauthier tally would slide things back the Checkers’ way for good. Full recap

Checkers 6, Lehigh Valley 2

It was more of the same the next night, as Charlotte’s offense made noise early and often. The Checkers struck three times in the opening frame before the Phantoms could find the back of the bet, then tacked on another two unanswered to build a 5-1 advantage early on in the third. Lehigh would muster one more tally but it was too little, too late, and an empty netter from Steven Lorentz sealed the lopsided win for the home side. Full recap

Checkers 3, Springfield 5

The Checkers’ good fortune on home ice came to a halt in their first meeting with Springfield. Despite opening the scoring, the Checkers found themselves in a 3-2 hole early on in the third period. Julien Gauthier came through on the power play to even the score midway through the frame, but the Thunderbirds had one more push in them, going back ahead with five to play. The Checkers had no answer for that, despite a strong rally effort, and the Thunderbirds would escape with a win. Full recap

Checkers 5, Springfield 0

Charlotte didn’t have to wait long to get revenge, throttling the Thunderbirds the next day to wrap up the home portion of the team’s regular season home schedule. Roland McKeown ripped one home just 38 seconds into regulation and that would kickstart the Charlotte offense. Five different Checkers found the back of the net, while Dustin Tokarski stopped all 20 shots he saw to pick up his first shutout in a Charlotte sweater. Full recap

Three Stars Of The Week

Notables

RACKING UP THE ACCOLADES

The Checkers became the first team this season to punch their ticket to the postseason, then became the first team to clinch a division title, and now they’ve clinched themselves the best record in the AHL.

By virtue of the Syracuse Crunch losing on Saturday night, the Checkers have captured the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy, given annually to the AHL’s regular season champions. It marks the first time that the Checkers – who are currently the only team in the league to surpass 100 points – have earned the honor in franchise history.

HOME SWEET HOME

The Checkers wrapped up the home portion of their regular season schedule with a 26-7-5 record, coming just one shy of the franchise record for home wins in a season. Still, the 26 victories on home ice currently stand as the most in the AHL.

The good news for the Checkers, who finished off their home slate on a 12-1-1 run, is that they’ve locked up home ice advantage for the entirety of the Calder Cup playoffs.

CARRICK CONTRIBUTES

After going through a 10-game stretch that saw him record just one point, Trevor Carrick has regained his scoring touch as of late. The All Star – who has assists in each of Charlotte’s last four games – has racked up eight point (1g, 7a) over the last eight contests, pulling himself into a tie with Jake Bean for the team’s defensemen scoring lead.

With 15 games to play, Carrick is nine shy of matching his single-season career high in points – set last year – and six shy of his career high in assists – a mark he hit in 2017-18 and 2015-16.

DEADLINE UPGRADES

The Checkers added a pair of big pieces around the trade deadline and both have paid huge dividends thus far. Tomas Jurco, acquired from Springfield in exchange for rookie Cliff Pu, has racked up 15 points in 17 games for the Checkers, including six (2g, 4a) in his last four. The forward is in the midst of a four-game point streak, matching his longest since joining Charlotte.

Between the pipes, the addition of Dustin Tokarski has been a solid boost for Charlotte. The veteran netminder has appeared in six games for his new club and picked up the win each time while never allowing more than two goals in any game, giving him a 1.17 goals-against average and a .950 save percentage while in a Checkers sweater.

CARRICK'S BIG YEAR

Currently in the midst of a five-game point streak, Trevor Carrick continues to tack on points to his career year. The blue liner has now set career highs in assists (38) and points (47), both categories in which he ranks among the league’s best blue liners.

With two games remaining, Carrick needs just three points to become the second defenseman in franchise history to hit the 50-point mark. Bobby Sanguinetti set the current record of 50 points during the 2011-12 campaign.

SAARELA STAYS SCORING

Aleksi Saarela’s already lethal scoring touch has been ratcheted up as of late. The forward has lit the lamp 13 times over the last 16 contests – including four goals in the last four games – and now leads the team with 29 tallies this season.

With one more goal Saarela could become the fourth player in franchise history to reach 30 goals in a season, following Valentin Zykov’s 33-goal effort a season ago.

GAUTHIER'S GOALS

The only Checker rivaling Saarela’s red-hot goal output is Julien Gauthier. The forward has goals in five of the last six games to bring his season total to 25, far eclipsing his rookie total from last season of 16.

Gauthier also appears to have found a home as the net-front presence on the power play, knocking home goals in each of Charlotte’s last two games in a nearly identical fashion.

Ranks

• Andrew Poturalski is tied for fourth in the AHL in scoring (70) and ranks fifth in assists (47)
• Aleksi Saarela is tied for ninth in the AHL in goals (29) and is tied for third in game-winning goals (8)
• Alex Nedeljkovic leads the AHL in wins (33) and minutes played (2854), is tied for the league lead in goals-against average (2.25), ranks fifth in saves (1171) and is tied for eighth in save percentage (.916)
• Martin Necas ranks fifth among AHL rookies in scoring (48) and is tied for fourth in assists (32)
• Morgan Geekie ranks sixth among AHL rookies in scoring (46), is tied for fifth in goals (19), is tied for third in shooting percentage (21.1) and ranks fourth in plus-minus (+24)
• Trevor Carrick ranks fifth among league defensemen in scoring (47), ranks fourth in assists (38) and is tied for third in game-winning goals (4)
• Jake Bean is tied for eighth among league defensemen in scoring (44) and is tied for fifth in goals (13)
• Roland McKeown ranks fourth among AHL defensemen and sixth overall in plus-minus (+30)
• Dan Renouf ranks fourth among league defensemen and is tied for ninth overall in penalty minutes (121)

INJURIES

• Andrew Poturalski - Missed two games starting 4/6
• Josiah Didier - Missed four games starting 4/2
• Clark Bishop - Missed seven games starting 3/27
• Janne Kuokkanen - Missed 15 games starting 3/8
• Spencer Smallman - Missed 61 games starting 11/11

Transactions

Incoming

• Apr. 5: (D) Derek Sheppard - Recalled from Florida (ECHL)

Outgoing

• Apr. 7: (D) Jake Bean - Recalled by Carolina (NHL)

Coming Up

By the Numbers

CATEGORY	RECORD	AHL RANK	LAST WEEK
Power play	19.6%	t-9th	13th
Penalty kill	86.6%	1st	1st
Goals per game	3.36	t-5th	9th
Shots per game	30.14	14th	16th
Goals allowed per game	2.50	2nd	2nd
Shots allowed per game	26.84	3rd	3rd
Penalty minutes per game	12.86	13th	13th

LEADERS

CATEGORY	LEADER(S)
Points	Andrew Poturalski (70), Aleksi Saarela (53), Martin Necas (48)
Goals	Aleksi Saarela (29), Julien Gauthier (25), Andrew Poturalski (23)
Assists	Andrew Poturalski (47), Trevor Carrick (38), Martin Necas (32)
Power play goals	Julien Gauthier (8), Aleksi Saarela (7), Janne Kuokkanen (6)
Shorthanded goals	Saku Maenalanen (3), Patrick Brown, Nicolas Roy, Michal Cajkovsky (1)
Game-winning goals	Aleksi Saarela (8), Andrew Poturalski (6), Nicolas Roy (5)
Shots on goal	Aleksi Saarela (190), Jake Bean (165), Andrew Poturalski, Julien Gauthier (158)
Penalty minutes	Dan Renouf (121), Trevor Carrick (84), Julien Gauthier (57)
Plus/minus	Roland McKeown (+30), Morgan Geekie (+24), Nick Schilkey (+21)
Wins	Alex Nedeljkovic (33)
Goals-against average	Alex Nedeljkovic (2.25)
Save percentage	Alex Nedeljkovic (.916)