During the season, Checkers broadcaster TJ Chillot checks in with a weekly blog highlighting everything Checkers hockey, presented by Charlotte Eye Ear Nose & Throat Associates!
After earning three of a possible six points in their three-game series with the Bridgeport Islanders, the Checkers find themselves within striking distance of second place in the Atlantic Division. With only 13 games remaining in the regular season, the playoff push is heating up and the division is still up for grabs. Here’s some of my thoughts from this past week’s games plus a little foreshadowing for the upcoming weekend series north of the border. Welcome back to In The Trapezoid with TJ.
Carpe Diem Carlsson
Lucas Carlsson has had himself a month. Looking at his game-to-game stats, you’d have to go back to February 14 and 15 to find back-to-back games in which Carlsson didn’t get on the score sheet. Since the start of last month, Carlsson is averaging a point-per-game with seven goals and 10 assists in 17 contests. His recent resurgence has him ranked second on the team in points with 39 - tied with Aleksi Heponiemi - and his 15 goals is the most among all defensemen in the AHL. What’s more, Carlsson has himself 10 multi-point games this year through 49 games played. That’s over 20% of his season’s games in which he’s logged two or more points. Incredible.
PENALTY KILLING MARCH
Boy, the Checkers' PK has come to play in the month of March. In their six games, the Checkers have only allowed two power-play goals in 19 opportunities against. That’s saying something considering half of those games came against the AHL’s second ranked power play in the form of the Bridgeport Islanders. That success will have to continue as the upcoming schedule doesn’t offer any breaks in the power-play department, with games against Toronto (best power play in the AHL) and Springfield (fourth-ranked power play in the AHL) on the horizon.
COMEBACK CENTRAL
The Checkers have shown time and time again that they’re never fully out of a game. They’ve mounted comebacks seemingly at will this season, and we saw a perfect example on Saturday when the team rallied to score three third-period goals and force overtime. When trailing after one period this season, the Checkers are 8-11-1-1 with only Rockford’s 11 wins topping their total. When trailing after two periods this season, the Checkers are 8-16-3-1 and have the most wins in that scenario in the AHL. In addition, Charlotte has more points than anyone when entering the third period behind on the scoreboard. That all illustrates how well this team handles adversity and how they can stay competitive even when it’s late. Like Saturday against Bridgeport, it shows that even if the Checkers can’t pull out the victory in last-minute fashion, they can certainly push the game to overtime to earn that point.
CONACHER'S CONTRIBUTIONS
Cory Conacher made his Checkers debut on Wednesday after signing a PTO with the team a week or so before. For the veteran, it was his second AHL team this season after starting the year with the Belleville Senators and he wasted no time getting on the score sheet - registering an assist on Wednesday with his first goal in a Charlotte sweater coming just two games later.
SEVEN-GOAL SITUATION
The Checkers’ 7-1 win against the Islanders was the second-most goals they’ve scored in a game this season. The only time they’ve scored more was their 9-0 win over Cleveland in January. Thirteen of their 18 skaters on the ice Friday night earned a point, with five players (Henry Bowlby, Grigori Denisenko, Gerry Mayhew, Zac Dalpe, and Justin Sourdif) logging multiple-point nights.
20-GOAL CLUB
Riley Nash and Mayhew are the only two players on this Checkers team with 20 or more goals on the season. Nash leads the way with 21 while Mayhew sits one behind him with an even 20. Not far away however, Dalpe and Carlsson are both within striking distance of 20 goals on the year having 16 and 15, respectively. I bring this up simply because the Checkers only had two 20-plus goal scorers last year - Dalpe (30) and Scott Wilson (24). To have the possibility of three, maybe four, 20-goal scorers this year shows the offensive creativity and production sharing that’s made this team so successful down the stretch run.
WAIVED OFF
The Checkers saw two goals get waived off this past weekend against Bridgeport. On Saturday, the Checkers and their fans thought they found the OT winner and completed the comeback, but officials immediately deemed it a no-goal due to goaltender interference. That’s all I have on those calls, I just found it intriguing and wanted to point out the fact that the Checkers had back-to-back games with a disallowed goal.
HEADING NORTH OF THE BORDER
Up next for the Checkers, they take on the North Division-leading Toronto Marlies in Canada. It’s the third and fourth meetings of the season between the two clubs, with each team earning a win in their last series. Since that meeting back in February, Toronto has risen to the top of the Eastern Conference and are the second best team in the entire league with 83 standings points. Their 25.1% power-play conversion rate is tops in the league as well, helping their goals-against total rise to 205 where they sit atop the conference. Having won their last three games in a row, the Marlies are 7-3-0-0 in their last 10 and have only lost two games at home in the 2023 portion of the schedule.
