Weekly Report: Tough Weekend, New Faces Produce And More

A grueling three-in-three weekend tripped up the Checkers, as they began their lengthy road trip with a trio of losses.

Week in Review

Checkers 1, Providence 5

The Checkers fell behind early against the Bruins Friday night and were never able to fully recover, as Providence built a 3-0 lead after one period and continued on to rattle off five unanswered tallies across regulation. Charlotte broke through late on the power play to spoil the Bruins’ shutout hopes, but the home side comfortably rolled to a win. Full recap

Checkers 2, Springfield 4

The Checkers battled valiantly against the division-leading Thunderbirds the next night, shaking off an early deficit and pulling themselves within one midway through the third. But some stellar goaltending from Joel Hofer kept Springfield ahead, and a late empty netter sealed Charlotte’s fate. Full recap

Checkers 3, Bridgeport 5

After Bridgeport opened the scoring 68 seconds in, the Charlotte offense came to life with three unanswered strikes to give Charlotte a 3-1 advantage after 20 minutes of play. The Islanders would flip the script from there, however - tying the game in the middle frame and then reclaiming the lead midway through the third. The Checkers would push hard down the stretch but once again ran into a red-hot netminder, and an empty netter in the waning moments by Bridgeport iced the victory for the home side. Full recap

Three Stars Of The Week

QUICK HITS

TOUGH WEEKEND

The Checkers took on their third three-games-in-three-days stretch of the season this weekend, having gone 1-2-0-0 and 2-1-0-0 in their previous two. Charlotte dropped all three road contests, marking the second time in franchise history it picked up no points in a three-in-three.

IN A SKID

With Sunday’s defeat in Bridgeport, the Checkers have lost three straight games and are winless in their last four - both of which stand as the team’s longest such streaks this season.

FITTING RIGHT IN

Two of Charlotte’s newest additions have been driving the offense since joining the squad. Owen Tippett has helpers in two of his last three contests in a Checkers sweater, giving him six assists in four games this season, while Dennis Cholowski has pumped in six points (2g, 4a) over his nine games with the club since being claimed by Seattle off of waivers and assigned to Charlotte.

KILLING IT

The Checkers went perfect on the PK Sunday, killing off both of Bridgeport’s man advantages. That snapped a run of six consecutive games in which the Checkers allowed a power-play goal.

POWERING UP

Despite going 0-for-4 on Sunday, the Checkers have seen an uptick in their power-play production as of late, notching four power-play goals over the last four games.

FIRE AWAY

The Checkers have been launching a high volume of pucks on net over this most recent stretch of games. They recorded a season-high 40 shots on Saturday in Springfield, then followed that up by posting another 40-shot effort the next night in Bridgeport. The Checkers have now registered at least 34 shots in each of their last four contests.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK

Dennis Cholowski keeps filling up the scoresheet, this time off a laser shot that pinballed in!

Off the bar, off the goalie and in

Just like he drew it up! pic.twitter.com/yiY1c5Ufnq

— Charlotte Checkers (@CheckersHockey) February 27, 2022

RANKS

• Zac Dalpe and Scott Wilson are both tied for 14th in the AHL in goals (19)
• Cole Schwindt ranks second among rookies and is tied for eighth overall in plus-minus (+17)
• Kole Lind ranks fifth in the AHL in penalty minutes (98)
• Zac Dalpe ranks seventh in the AHL in shots on goal (136)
• Cale Fleury is tied for the league lead in shorthanded assists (3)
• Christopher Gibson is tied for third in the AHL in shorthanded assists (2)
• Logan Hutsko ranks eighth among AHL rookies in assists (23)
• Henry Bowlby is tied for seventh among AHL rookies in plus-minus (+11)
• Serron Noel is tied for seventh among AHL rookies in penalty minutes (51)
• Cole Schwindt is tied for second among AHL rookies in shorthanded goals (2)
• Connor Carrick is tied for second among AHL defensemen in goals (8) and tied for ninth in points (28)
• Connor Carrick is tied for the league lead among defensemen in power-play goals (4), is tied for second in shorthanded goals (1) and ranks second in shots on goal (113)

INJURIES

• Grigori Denisenko - Out since 1/15
• Gustav Olofsson - Out since 1/12
• Max Gildon - Out since 12/19
• Chris Gibson - Out since 12/3
• John Ludvig - Out since 11/12

Transactions

Incoming

• Feb. 26 - Nolan Kneen - Signed to PTO
• Feb. 22 - Owen Tippett - Assigned from Florida (NHL)

Outgoing

• Feb. 24 - Antoine Bibeau - Assigned to Allen (ECHL)
• Feb. 24 - Kole Lind - Recalled by Seattle (AHL)
• Feb. 24 - Blake Siebenaler - Released from PTO
• Feb. 22 - Brandon Fortunato - Released from PTO

Coming Up

By the Numbers

CATEGORY	RECORD	AHL RANK
Power play	20.5%	10th
Penalty kill	81.4%	t-11th
Goals per game	3.36	t-6th
Shots per game	29.50	18th
Goals allowed per game	3.06	t-16th
Shots allowed per game	29.36	11th
Penalty minutes per game	12.20	20th

LEADERS

CATEGORY	LEADER(S)
Points	Kole Lind (33), Logan Hutsko (32), Scott Wilson (31)
Goals	Zac Dalpe, Scott Wilson (19), Kole Lind (16)
Assists	Logan Hutsko (23), Connor Carrick (20), Cale Fleury (18)
Power play goals	Zac Dalpe, Kole Lind (7), Three tied (4)
Shorthanded goals	Cole Schwindt (2), Six tied (1)
Game-winning goals	Scott Wilson (4), Max McCormick, Grigori Denisenko, Carsen Twarynski (3)
Shots on goal	Zac Dalpe (136), Connor Carrick (113), Scott Wilson (105)
Penalty minutes	Kole Lind (98), Connor Carrick (65), Serron Noel (51)
Plus/minus	Cole Schwindt (+17), Henry Bowlby (+11), Lucas Carlsson (+9)
Wins	Joey Daccord (9)
Goals-against average	Joey Daccord (2.62)
Save percentage	Joey Daccord (.913)