To the excitement of both the fans and players, the Checkers are one of them.
“This is the most fun time of year to play hockey,” said forward John Leonard. “It’s what everyone wants to do at this time of year.”
Charlotte has advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals by virtue of a clutch Game Five win over Providence in round two and an impressive sweep of the two-time defending champion Hershey Bears in round three.
“We’ve been resilient all year,” said Leonard after Game 3. “That’s what’s so special about this group. It doesn’t matter if it’s a tight game, down two or down three, everyone in that room believes that we can still come back, no matter the score.”
With two formidable opponents in their rear view, the tight-knit Checkers are forging ahead to a matchup against the league’s top team - with a trip to the Calder Cup Finals on the line.
“Every series is going to get harder,” said Leonard. “Every series you need everyone.”
LOOKING AT LAVAL
It’s been quite a while since the Checkers and Rocket have faced each other.Seven years to be exact, as the two sides played four times early in the 2018-19 season - Charlotte came away with a 3-1-0-0 record in those contests.
This year’s version of the Rocket finished as the AHL’s top team thanks to racking up 101 points in the standings.
“Best team in the American Hockey League all year, coach of the year, coached in the NHL last year,” said Kinnear of Laval and head coach Pascal Vincent. “I think if you look at their roster, it’s a veteran group with a lot of high-end talent. Pretty much what we’ve seen for the last two series. We’re excited for the challenge and excited to go to Laval and get started.”
The Rocket’s biggest strength during the regular season was on the defensive side of things - where they tied for the league-lead in goals allowed per game - but they also boast plenty of offense firepower, as evidenced by an AHL-best six different 20-goal scorers.
“High skill,” said Kinnear of his impressions of Laval. “[Rocket forward Alex] Barre-Boulet has been an elite scorer in this league for a long period of time. They have elite goaltending - [Rocket goalie Cayden] Primeau has been in the NHL for long stretches and he’s coming off a shutout.”
Another key aspect of the Rocket is the fact that they were the most penalized team in the regular season, averaging 15.29 penalty minutes per game and logging 41 major penalties - by comparison, the Checkers averaged 11.75 PIMs per game (23rd in the league) and had 24 major penalties.
That puts a heavy focus for the series on special teams, which have been on opposite ends of the spectrum for Charlotte. The Checkers converted once on 10 opportunities during the three-game series with Hershey and are now 2-for-28 during the postseason. On the other side of things, the Checkers are operating at 92.3 percent on the penalty kill and have outscored their opponents in those situations (two power-play goals against, three shorthanded goals for).
“Oh yeah, we definitely did,” said Kinnear when asked if the team made tweaks to the power play during this break. “If you want to talk about Laval, they’re the most penalized team in the league. So special teams are going to be important and we want to continue to grow in that area - both shorthanded and power play.”
Laval comes into the Eastern Conference Finals having been pushed to the brink by Rochester in round three. The two sides traded wins in the best-of-five series until the Rocket were able to pick up the win in a pivotal Game 5 that took place on Sunday.
That gives Laval a quick turnaround before starting this series on Wednesday. On the other side, Charlotte made quick work of Hershey and have been waiting since last Wednesday.
“The most important thing has been finding the balance,” said Leonard of the Checkers’ approach over the last week, in which they’ve been consistently hitting the ice for practice. “Staying locked in. We were able to close it out in three which was huge. Hopefully that can be an advantage for us since they had Game 5 [Sunday]. Hopefully we can jump on them early.”
As for the coaching staff, they don’t put much weight into the “rest vs rust” discussion.
“I never look at it like that,” said Kinnear. “Obviously they’re feeling good about themselves coming off a big win. We got back from Hershey, which was important to close it out as fast as possible. We’ve done a great job all year of being in the moment. We need to be in the moment. Today we had a good practice, tomorrow we need to get better and get ready for game day.”
KAAPO'S CREASE
Kaapo Kahkonen continues to be the workhorse for Charlotte, which is the only team of the final four that has used a single goalie for its playoff run thus far.“He’s an experienced goalie,” said Kinnear. “We lost [Matt] Kiersted and [Jaycob] Megna for the majority of the playoffs, so that experienced goalie calmed everything down for us. He deserves the net and we’re going to continue to use him. We really like his composure.”
Heading into the Eastern Conference Finals, Kahkonen ranks second in the AHL in wins (6) and is tied for third in goals-against average (1.85). His strong play has been part of a total team effort on the defensive side of things for the Checkers, who have allowed the fewest goals per game and the fewest shots per game in the league this postseason.
“Kaps has been great,” said Leonard. “He’s very calm in net and when you have a calm goaltender, that calms every down and gives everyone confidence. He is a heck of a goalie and it’s been fun to play with him.”
DEPTH IS KEY
On the offensive production front, the Checkers are looking to keep digging into the next-man-up mentality that got them here.“We need everybody,” said Kinnear. “If you look at our group, four lines are very important to how we play. We need everyone going. I felt the game in Hershey we had four lines going, which allowed us to be successful.”
The goals-by-committee approach has been Charlotte’s bread-and-butter, but being able to trot out a 36-goal scorer in Leonard is certainly a big weapon for the Checkers.
“The last series he got going,” said Kinnear of Leonard. “He was a big-time player for us. We moved the lines around a little bit and found some chemistry with that line with [Rasmus] Asplund and [Wilmer] Skoog. Lenny is a gamebreaker and obviously he had a big series. You want him to continue to grow.”
Exactly who it is making the plays isn’t the important part to this team, though - especially at this time of year.
“There’s going to be different guys that step up every single game and that’s what makes the playoffs so special,” said Leonard. “That’s what makes this group so special - any given night there’s someone that can make a big play - whether it’s scoring a goal or blocking a shot, doing the little things. That’s what you need to win championships. That’s the kind of group we have.”
KIERSTED ON TRACK
Charlotte could be getting a big piece of its lineup back as the series kicks off in Laval. Matt Kiersted - who was injured in Game 3 of the second-round series against Providence and has missed the last five contests - has returned to practice and has a positive outlook for the Eastern Conference Finals.“He looked pretty good out there today, he’s killing penalties,” said Kinnear of his alternate captain. “Yeah, we’re excited to have him back.”
