Weekly Report: October 15, 2018

The Checkers kept things rolling during another road weekend, improving to a perfect 4-0-0 on the season.

Week in Review

Checkers 4, Utica 3

The Checkers fell into a hole early on in their first trip to Utica this season, but a shorthanded strike from Saku Maenalanen and breakaway snipe from Dennis Robertson evened the score by the first intermission. Morgan Geekie pushed the visitors ahead in the middle frame with his second goal in as many games, but the red-hot Reid Boucher tied the game once again early in the third. The contest appeared to be destined for overtime until Robertson found the back of the net with less than two minutes to play, lifting the Checkers to a 4-3 victory. Full recap

Checkers 4, Syracuse 1

After winning a tight battle the night before, the Checkers took care of business in Syracuse to wrap up the four-game road swing. Julien Gauthier opened the scoring early on in regulation before Charlotte’s special teams took over. The Checkers tacked on a pair of power-play tallies and a shorthanded goal to break the game wide open. The Crunch finally found the back of the net in third but it was too little too late, as Alex Nedeljkovic’s 34 saves were more than enough to secure a 4-1 victory, the netminder’s fourth of the year. Full recap

Three Stars Of The Week

Notables

MORE WINS FOR NED

Alex Nedeljkovic took his spot between the pipes for both contests over the weekend, marking the first time in franchise history has started each of the first four games of a season. After leading the lead in wins a season ago, Nedeljkovic is picking up where he left off by logging a perfect 4-0-0 record to take his spot at the top of the AHL leaderboard. The third-year pro has also helped push Charlotte to a tie for the third-fewest goals against per game in the league.

Dating back to last season, Nedeljkovic has earned at least a point in each of his last nine appearances and 12 of his last 13.

POTTING POINTS

Andrew Poturalski has carried a big load of the offense to start this season, racking up seven points (2g, 5a) through the first four games. The third-year pro is the only Checker to record at least one point in each of the team’s four games thus far, tying him for the second-longest active streak in the AHL.

HOT START

With another sweep over the weekend the Checkers moved to 4-0-0 this season, marking the best start in the franchise’s nine AHL campaigns. Charlotte is one of four teams that have yet to lose a game this season, joining Chicago, Iowa and Tucson – though the latter two teams have played one fewer game.

OFFENSIVE FIREWORKS

Charlotte’s power play hasn’t seen much drop off from a year ago, with the Checkers converting at a league-best 40 percent clip and notching multiple power-play goals in three of their four games.

The top unit has been especially lethal for the Checkers early on this season. Andrew Poturalski has led the way with four points (1g, 3a) on the man advantage while Nicolas Roy (2g, 1a), Janne Kuokkanen (2g, 1a) and Trevor Carrick (0g, 3a) all pulling their weight as well.

Ranks

• Andrew Poturalski is tied for fifth in the league in points (7), tied for third in assists (5) and power-play assists (3) and tied for fourth in power-play points (4)
• Nicolas Roy is tied for 8th in the AHL in points (6), tied for 2nd in goals (4) and power-play goals (2) and tied for the league lead in shorthanded goals (1) and game-winning goals (2)
• Clark Bishop leads the league in shorthanded assists (2) and is tied for the leage lead in shorthanded points (2)
• Saku Maenalanen and Patrick Brown are tied for the league lead in shorthanded goals (1)
• Alex Nedeljkovic leads the league in wins (4) and minutes played (239:20) and ranks second in saves (112)
• Trevor Carrick is tied for sixth among league defensemen in scoring (4), tied for third in assists (4), tied for second in power-play assists (3) and tied for third in power-play points (3)

INJURIES

• Josiah Didier missed 4 games starting 10/5
• Spencer Smallman missed 1 game starting 10/13

Transactions

Incoming

• (LW) Nick Schilkey - Recalled from Florida (ECHL)

Outgoing

• None

Coming Up

By the Numbers

CATEGORY	RECORD	AHL RANK	LAST WEEK
Power play	40.0%	1st	2nd
Penalty kill	89.5%	t-10th	t-12th
Goals per game	4.50	t-3rd	6th
Shots per game	33.75	4th	t-6th
Goals allowed per game	2.00	t-3rd	t-7th
Shots allowed per game	30.00	t-15th	19th
Penalty minutes per game	12.50	t-10th	t-24th

LEADERS

CATEGORY	LEADER(S)
Points	Andrew Poturalski (7), Nicolas Roy (6), Janne Kuokkanen (5)
Goals	Nicolas Roy (4), Janne Kuokkanen (3), Three tied (2)
Assists	Andrew Poturalski (5), Trevor Carrick (4), Spencer Smallman (3)
Power play goals	Nicolas Roy, Janne Kuokkanen (2), Andrew Poturalski, Clark Bishop (1)
Shorthanded goals	Nicolas Roy, Saku Maenalanen, Patrick Brown (1)
Game-winning goals	Nicolas Roy (2)
Shots on goal	Nicolas Roy (18), Julien Gauthier (14), Three tied (10)
Penalty minutes	Clark Bishop, Roland McKeown (8), Three tied (6)
Plus/minus	Michal Cajkovsky, Roland McKeown (+5), Nicolas Roy (+4)
Wins	Alex Nedeljkovic (4)
Goals-against average	Alex Nedeljkovic (2.01)
Save percentage	Alex Nedeljkovic (.933)