Weekly Report: Jan. 29, 2019

The Checkers wrapped up the first half of the season by splitting a series on the road before heading into the All-Star break.

Week in Review

Checkers 3, Providence 5

Things started out positive for the Checkers in their visit to Providence, as they jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead inside the first six minutes of play. The Bruins answered back with a vengeance, however, rattling off four unanswered goals and chasing start Callum Booth from the game in the process to snag a two-goal lead midway through the third period. Jake Bean found the back of the net for the second time that night to pull Charlotte within one with less than five minutes to play, but the rally attempt would be squashed by another Providence tally less than a minute later, sealing the win for the home side and extended the Checkers’ winless skid to three games. Full recap

Checkers 5, Hartford 2

In their final contest before the All-Star break the Checkers righted the ship, handing Hartford a lopsided loss. Another quick strike by the visitors was wiped out later in the period by a Wolf Pack tally, but this time it would be the Checkers who went on a scoring tear. Starting with Jake Bean’s fourth goal in his last four games, the Checkers rattled off three straight markers to build a substantial 4-1 advantage through 40 minutes of play. The Wolf Pack pushed back with a goal of their own to kick off the third, but it was too little, too late and an empty netter from Aleksi Saarela – his second goal of the game – sent the Checkers into the break on a positive note. Full recap

Three Stars Of The Week

Notables

POTTING POINTS

Andrew Poturalski continues to pace the Checkers and climb his way up the AHL’s scoring rankings. Through the first 46 games of the season, the forward has 46 points – 12 more than the next highest scoring Checker – and ranks third in the league, trailing Syracuse’s Carter Verhaeghe by two and scoring leader Daniel Carr from Chicago by seven.

Poturalski, in his third full pro season, has been a model of consistency for the Checkers this season, logging 26 points in his last 23 games while being held off the scoresheet in consecutive games just once over that stretch. He is also one of just three skaters to have appeared in each of Charlotte’s games this season, alongside Julien Gauthier and Roland McKeown.

Poturalski is nine points away from moving into the franchise’s top 10 single-season point list. The franchise record is 74 points, set by Zach Boychuk in 2013-14.

BEAN BREAKS OUT

Jake Bean has quietly been putting together a historically strong rookie campaign. Bean, who has 17 points in his last 21 games and four goals in his last four games, leads all Charlotte defensemen in scoring and has emerged as the top scoring rookie defenseman in the AHL.

Bean already has the ninth-best single-season point total by a defenseman in franchise history, with Bobby Sanguinetti’s 50-points effort in 2011-12 holding the record. Only one rookie blue liner has recorded more points than Bean has so far, as Trevor Carrick’s 32 points in 2014-15 stands as the record in that category.

Only three defensemen – and no rookies – in franchise history have scored more goals in a single season than Bean has through 45 games, with Mark Flood’s 13 in 2013-14 standing as the high mark.

POWER OUTAGE

Despite coming away with the win Saturday in Hartford, Charlotte’s power play continued to falter, going scoreless on five man advantages. The Checkers are now 0-for-14 over their last three games and have five power-play goals in their last 55 opportunities over the last 12 games, dropping them to 20th in the AHL.

The Checkers’ current three-game power-play drought is the third such stretch this season and the first since mid-December.

NED STAYS WINNING

With a 5-2 defeat of Hartford on Saturday, Alex Nedeljkovic improved to 21-5-2 on the season, giving him four more wins than the second-winningest netminder in the AHL this season. Nedeljkovic, who picked up his first NHL win with Carolina last week, is now 9-1-1 in his last 13 appearances for Charlotte and has each of the Checkers’ last five wins dating back to Jan. 6, with the other netminders posting a combined 0-3-1 record during that time.

Only four goalies in Checkers history have recorded more than 21 wins in a single season, including Nedeljkovic, who set the franchise record last year with 31 victories.

Ranks

• Andrew Poturalski ranks third in the AHL in scoring (46), tied for 7th in assists (28) and tied for second in game-winning goals (5)
• Alex Nedeljkovic leads the AHL in wins (21), ranks fourth in minutes (1719:11) and ranks fifth in saves (706)
• Jake Bean leads all rookie defensemen, is tied for eighth among all rookies and ranks 10th among all defensemen in scoring (29), is tied for the lead among rookie defensemen and tied for fifth among all defensemen in goals (9) and is tied for second among rookie defensemen and tied for seventh among all rookies in assists (20)
• Dan Renouf ranks second in the AHL in penalty minutes (96) and leads all blue liners and is tied for third in the AHL in major penalties (6)
• Morgan Geekie ranks second in the AHL in shooting percentage (27.7)
• Nicolas Roy is tied for second in the AHL in game-winning goals (5)
• Trevor Carrick is tied for 10th among league defensemen in goals (7) and ranks second among league defensemen in game-winning goals (4)

INJURIES

• Janne Kuokkanen - Missed two games starting 1/25
• Spencer Smallman - Missed 33 games starting 11/11

SUSPENSIONS

• Trevor Carrick - Missed two games from 1/25 to 1/26

Transactions

Incoming

• Jan. 24: (D) Haydn Fleury - Assigned from Carolina (NHL)
• Jan. 24: (G) Alex Nedeljkovic - Assigned from Carolina (NHL)

Outgoing

• None

Coming Up

By the Numbers

CATEGORY	RECORD	AHL RANK	LAST WEEK
Power play	17.6%	20th	18th
Penalty kill	84.2%	5th	5th
Goals per game	3.41	t-6th	t-10th
Shots per game	29.37	18th	18th
Goals allowed per game	2.87	7th	t-4th
Shots allowed per game	27.22	4th	5th
Penalty minutes per game	14.28/td>	7th	7th

LEADERS

CATEGORY	LEADER(S)
Points	Andrew Poturalski (46), Aleksi Saarela (34), Janne Kuokkanen (31)
Goals	Andrew Poturalski (18), Aleksi Saarela (15), Nicolas Roy, Morgan Geekie (13)
Assists	Andrew Poturalski (28), Janne Kuokkanen, Jake Bean (20)
Power play goals	Janne Kuokkanen (6), Nicolas Roy, Julien Gauthier, Morgan Geekie (4)
Shorthanded goals	Saku Maenalanen (3), Patrick Brown, Nicolas Roy, Michal Cajkovsky (1)
Game-winning goals	Andrew Poturalski, Nicolas Roy (5), Trevor Carrick, Aleksi Saarela (4)
Shots on goal	Aleksi Saarela (119), Andrew Poturalski (112), Jake Bean (96)
Penalty minutes	Dan Renouf (96), Trevor Carrick (62), Julien Gauthier (47)
Plus/minus	Roland McKeown (+16), Martin Necas (+14), Nick Schilkey (+11)
Wins	Alex Nedeljkovic (21)
Goals-against average	Callum Booth (2.53)
Save percentage	Alex Nedeljkovic (.903)