Since January 10 they are 6-6-2-0, and there have only been two streaks over that stretch - a two-game losing skid and a run of three-straight wins. Otherwise the team has largely alternated positive and negative finals.
“I think the last little while we had a home stretch where we didn’t like the results,” said Checkers head coach Geordie Kinnear. “We liked pockets of the games, and then we went on the road for a long stretch and really liked the way we played.”
Last weekend’s trip fell into that pattern, as the Checkers pulled off a dominant win over the Wolf Pack before stumbling into a lopsided loss to the Islanders one night later.
“Coming off the All-Star Break, we played a really good hockey game in Hartford, then we didn’t play very well in Bridgeport,” said Kinnear. “We’re just looking for that consistency and continuing to build off of some systems and individually and collectively looking to get better.”
While the team searches for that consistency at the moment, they’re also keeping an eye on the bigger picture.
“You just take it day by day,” said Kinnear. “Sometimes the results can be a little bit of a distraction. It’s about how we’re playing at the time.”
Through that lens, the Checkers are priming themselves to be successful down the road by working things out now.
“What I like about the team is they’re great people, great competitors, they come to work every single day,” said Kinnear. “I can honestly say - off the top of my head - maybe two games that we didn’t like all year, where we lacked that focus for whatever reason.”
Given who the Checkers are battling against in the hyper-competitive Atlantic Division, they’re well aware that they can’t afford to slip back down to that level.
“We have the defending Calder Cup champions in our division,” said Kinnear. “You look at Wilkes on paper, of all the teams we’ve seen in the league they’re the most skilled from line one to line four. We got a good taste of that last week when they were in our building. You want to make sure you’re playing your best hockey when it matters and we have a lot of work to do. We’re going to need everybody.”
While the pieces are coming together for Charlotte, they’re by no means ready to sit back and coast down the stretch of the season.
“It’s a hardworking group that’s committed,” said Kinnear. “When you have that, you can do something special. But I’m going to remind everybody that we have a lot of work to do.
ROOM TO BREATHE
The grind of the AHL schedule is often a hot topic right around this time, as the mileage starts to rack up and the intensity rises.In that sense, February is quite the respite for Charlotte.
The Checkers have eight games across the month - five at home and three on the road - and only play on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, giving the team long stretches of time between contests to work on themselves.
“We haven’t had a lot of time, we’ve been on the road quite a bit,” said Kinnear “The off-ice work is important to our group. We have a young group that haven’t played this much hockey, so we want to make sure they’re nice and strong, because part of our identity is being hard in puck battles, and to be hard in puck battles you have to be strong in the gym.”
On the other end of the spectrum, the Checkers have a jam-packed March awaiting them, featuring 15 games with no more than two days in between any of them.
That makes this current spaced-out month all the more important.
“We’re going to take advantage of February,” said Kinnear. “Again, we’ve had enough rest, now it’s back to work making sure when we get in those high-stake games, that we physically have enough energy to win a lot of puck battles.”
LEONARD LIGHTS IT UP
One player who can play a big role in getting the Checkers back into the win column consistently is John Leonard, who has emerged as an offensive powerhouse in his first season with Charlotte.“To be honest I didn’t know what I was getting,” said Kinnear of Leonard, who signed an AHL deal with Charlotte over the summer. “We knew he played in the NHL a little bit.”
The 26-year-old had previously been a strong producer in the AHL with San Jose, Milwaukee and Tucson, but he’s taken his game to another level since donning a Checkers sweater.
“You look at his total in the American Hockey League, he never really had 19 goals before and he’s already there,” said Kinnear. “He’s played a big role. He came in, took advantage of the opportunity right away - his line was the best line, the power play was scoring a lot of goals, now he’s added the penalty kill to it. He’s a complete player for us.”
Fresh off his first AHL All-Star appearance, Leonard is looking to keep propelling the Charlotte offense as they progress into the second half of the season.
“I’m so proud of him,” said Kinnear. “I know he’s really hungry to get back to the NHL, but he’s really hungry to win down here. He’s been a big addition. I’m glad he’s on my side.”
STANDING TALL
Cooper Black has made a name for himself with his play as of late.Over his last four starts he is 4-0-0 with a .959 save percentage, a 1.00 goals-against average and two shutouts.
Not a bad stat line for the rookie.
“He’s a young kid that’s worked hard,” said Kinnear. “Went down to the East Coast League for a little bit and developed over time. He’s done a great job.”
The 23-year-old has taken on more of a workload lately - starting four of the team’s last eight games and three of the last five - and has come away with positive results.
“I put him in situations that weren’t as comfortable as they were early on,” said Kinnear. “You look at Wilkes-Barre on a Friday night - top team, haven’t lost a lot of hockey games, he beats those guys. Coming off an All-Star Break, not sure what you’re going to get, put him in that situation and he took advantage of it.”
Black’s strong play has given the coaching staff confidence in the young goaltender and provided the Checkers with a substantial three-man group between the pipes.
“So proud of the work that he’s put in to have success,” said Kinnear. “We just have to continue to do that.”
