Positioned directly at the transition from February’s light slate to March’s jam-packed schedule, the practice was an important one for setting the tone moving forward.
“As you go along you get reps a little bit and then as they get spaced out you forget what you’re all about as a group,” said head coach Geordie Kinnear. “So today was about reminders of when we’re at our best. That was the intent of practice today, to remind us of who we are when we’re at our best.”
The team is coming off a fairly fruitful four-game home stand that saw them sweep the Wolf Pack before splitting a pair with the defending champs.
“The two Hartford games were physical games, which I thought we embraced,” said Kinnear. “The Hershey games, the first one we played very well, I thought we were physical and mentally tough. And then the last game - we didn’t love it, didn’t hate it. Special teams lost 1-0, so we want to make sure we learn from that.”
A commitment to learning from mistakes has been instilled since day one with this Charlotte squad, and Wednesday’s skate was another testament to it.
“We just want to continue to build here,” said Kinnear after Sunday’s loss. “You’re not going to win every hockey game and you’re not going to love every period, but as long as we take lessons along the way I’m good with it.”
PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER
With new additions and key departures piling up over the last stretch of games, the coaching staff has put in plenty of work molding their lineup to make the best possible unit.“Trying different things,” said Kinnear on the coaching staff’s approach. “We’re a little bit bigger on the wing now, putting Patty Giles there and Pulji [Jesse Puljujarvi] is there now. Just making sure everyone is maximizing their skill set.”
They’re also not afraid to make adjustments on the fly as they see fit.
“I had to change it up in the third period [of Sunday’s game] because I didn’t feel there was enough energy there,” said Kinnear. “So we switched up the lines a little bit.”
The good news for Charlotte is that the team has plenty of options when it comes to constructing the lineup - it’s all about the way the pieces can fit together.
“Everyone knows how we play and where we’re supposed to be and how to operate, so you can mix and match and find the right combinations,” said Kinnear. “Sometimes it’s different against different teams, sometimes it’s the situation of the game where you’re at. We’ve been pretty consistent with a lot of pairings, but we’re still trying to find the right recipe.”
INJURY UPDATE
One possible addition to the lineup that had previously been discussed was Aidan McDonough - who rejoined the team for practice earlier this month after being out since November. Unfortunately, the forward suffered a setback in his injury and has now been ruled out.“He’s done for the year,” said Kinnear.
A spot in the Charlotte lineup that will need to be filled for the upcoming weekend series is Sandis Vilmanis, who was forced out of Saturday’s win with an injury.
“He’s week-to-week for sure,” said Kinnear. “He’s going to stay back and hopefully he gets good news over the next week and we can start easing him back in.”
There’s positive news on the injury front for Charlotte as well, though. Ryan McAllister has started skating ahead of practice, while Zac Dalpe hit the ice early today as well - though returns don’t appear to be imminent at the moment.
“We have a lot of positive signs,” said Kinnear. “McAllister has been out there, I saw [MacKenzie] Entwistle came back for a little bit, he’s feeling good. We’re hopeful that we get guys back at the end of the year, but they’ve got to get up to speed before we start putting them back in.”
BETWEEN THE PIPES
The last stretch of 10 games has seen the Checkers utilize their entire goaltending platoon - Cooper Black went 4-0-0, Ken Appleby made three starts and allowed four total goals and Chris Driedger won two of his three starts.“I feel like we have a confident goalie group right now,” said Kinnear. “For a stretch there some guys weren’t at their best. I thought Dreegs and Apple played well against Hershey.”
How the group is deployed moving forward remains to be seen, but it appears to be anyone’s job to grab.
“I don’t know if we’re in the rotating phase to be honest with you,” said Kinnear. “I think now it’s about guys earning it a little bit more. Sly [goalie coach Sylvain Rodrigue] and I will talk about putting the guys in the best situation to be successful and that’s going to be the mindset with them earning it too.”
