Weekly Report: February 22, 2016

This week saw the Checkers' winless skid come to an end, though they continued to struggle to stay consistent, earning three out of a possible eight points on the road.

The team will take a week back home in Charlotte to prepare for the two-game finale of this road swing in Manitoba this weekend.

Week in Review

Milwaukee 3, Checkers 0

The Checkers kicked off their road trip with a tough loss to a strong Admirals squad. After playing through a even first period, the Checkers surrendered two strange goals in the second to fall behind heading into the final frame. But they couldn't solve rookie netminder Juuse Saros to spark a rally, and an empty netter sealed the shutout defeat, which ran Charlotte's winless streak to 10. Full recap

Checkers 4, Grand Rapids 2

The Checkers finally brought an end to their winless skid three nights later with an impressive win over the Grand Rapids Griffins. The home team struck twice in the first to negate Ethan Werek's early tally and build a lead heading into the second. Charlotte came alive in the middle frame, however, outshooting the Griffins 16-6 and potting a pair of goals to take over the lead. Drew MacIntyre was strong in net down the stretch, squashing any chance of a comeback for the Griffins, and a Patrick Brown empty-net goal clinched the 4-2 slump-busting victory for Charlotte. Full recap

Grand Rapids 5, Checkers 2

The Checkers couldn't keep that ball rolling in the next night's rematch, getting drubbed by the Griffins 5-2. Rookie netminder Anthony Peters made his AHL debut in place of an injured Drew MacIntyre and turned in a fine performance despite the lopsided score. Peters was assaulted with 49 shots from the Griffins, including a whopping 22 in the second period. The Checkers ran out to a 2-0 lead early in the second thanks to power-play strikes from Ethan Werek and Justin Shugg, but that lead quickly evaporated as the Griffins scored the next five unanswered en route to the two-game split. Full recap

Chicago 3, Checkers 2 (SO)

The Checkers wrapped up the three-in-three weekend with a tight contest against the Chicago Wolves. Trailing twice throughout regulation, Charlotte fought back and brought things to a 2-2 tie after 60 minutes of play. After a thrilling overtime that yielded no results, the game proceeded to the shootout. T.J. Hensick converted his attempt, but Sergey Tolchinsky and Derek Ryan were both shut down by Pheonix Copley, while the Wolves' first two shooters each lit the lamp and earned their team the two points in the standings. Full recap

Three Stars Of The Week

Notables

Downward Spiral

The Checkers' winless streak reached a franchise record 10 games before the team finally earned two points against Grand Rapids Friday. That marks the second-longest slide in the AHL this season, trailing only the last-place Manitoba Moose, who went 13 consecutive games without a win in November.

The Checkers' saving grace has been a franchise record 12-game point streak earlier this year, which has given them somewhat of a cushion. They have now become the first team since at least 2003-04 (when records of both streaks began to be kept) to post a point streak of 10 or more games and a winless streak of 10 or more games in the same season.

Out Of The Picture

This skid has pushed the Checkers out of the playoff picture as it stands now. At fifth place in the Central, the Checkers are currently .041 percentage points behind the fourth place Grand Rapids Griffins. Up until last night Charlotte had been in by virtue of the new postseason format, which rules that if the fifth-place team in the Central Division has a higher points percentage than the fourth-place team in the Pacific Division, they would take their spot in the playoffs. Now, the fourth place San Jose Barracuda have overtaken the Checkers, putting Charlotte on the outside looking in.

Goal Starved

One of the Checkers' biggest issues during this stretch has been their drop off in offensive production. After spending much of the beginning of this season near the top of the AHL in terms of goals per game, they have now fallen out of the top 10 for the first time all year.

Charlotte has failed to score more than two goals in nine of their last 11 contests. That especially hurts this team, as they are at their best when their offense is clicking. The Checkers are 18-1-0 when scoring three or more goals and 3-16-2 when failing to do so.

What Can Brown Do For You?

Patrick Brown has quietly become an offensive force for the Checkers. After recording 10 points during his rookie season a year ago, Brown currently sits at 16 points through seven fewer games than he played all of last season. He has also lit the lamp 10 times thus far, up from his total of two goals last season and good for the second-highest total on the team currently.

Powering Back Up

After a season-worst three-game drought, the Checkers have notched a power-play goal in eight of their last nine contests. They are 10-for-40 (25%) on the man advantage over that stretch, and are the second-ranked power-play unit in the AHL with a 22.7% on the season.

Goaltending Shuffle

The Checkers’ tandem of Daniel Altshuller and Drew MacIntyre broke up last Monday when the Carolina Hurricanes recalled Altshuller to back up their game against Winnipeg the following day. Instead of returning to the Checkers with Cam Ward healthy enough to play, Altshuller instead joined his old ECHL team in Florida, where he stopped 23 of 27 shots in the Everblades’ Wednesday loss at Norfolk. During that time Charlotte brought up Anthony Peters to work alongside MacIntyre. After backing up the veteran Wednesday and Friday, Peters made his AHL debut Saturday in Grand Rapids, stopping 44 of 49 in a losing effort.

Altshuller returned to the team prior to Saturday's game, but the Checkers have retained Peters, as MacIntyre suffered an injury over the weekend.

Three-In-Threes

This past weekend's slate marked the first of two sets of three games in three nights this season, with the other instance also coming on the road next month.

Including this most recent 1-1-1 effort, Charlotte owns a 49-33-11 record in games that are part of a three-in-three set, including a 17-10-4 mark in game one, a 16-10-5 record in game two and mark of 16-13-2 in game three.

No Love In February

The Checkers are now 1-7-2 during a month of February that has proven to be less than successful in recent years. Charlotte owns a combined 9-19-4 record in its last three Februaries, having posted a losing record each time.

Ranks

• Kyle Hagel is tied for second in the AHL in major penalties (12)
• Daniel Altshuller ranks 13th in the AHL in goals against average (2.51) and second among rooke goaltenders
• Trevor Carrick ranks sixth among AHL defensemen in scoring (34) and tied for third in power-play assists (15) and power-play points (19)
• Mike Cornell ranks fifth among AHL defensemen in penalty minutes (93) and tied for second in major penalties (11)

Injuries

• Danny Biega missed 21 games starting 1/8
• Drew MacIntyre missed two games starting 2/20

Transactions

Incoming

• February 20 - (G) Daniel Altshuller recalled by Charlotte
• February 16 - (G) Anthony Peters recalled by Charlotte

Outgoing

• Febraury 16 - (LW) Carter Sandlak assigned to Florida (ECHL)

Coming Up

By the Numbers

Team Statistics
CATEGORY	RECORD	AHL RANK	LAST WEEK
Power play	22.7%	2nd	2nd
Penalty kill	83.0%	13th	19th
Goals per game	2.91	11th	t-9th
Shots per game	30.26	12th	12th
Goals allowed per game	3.08	21st	21st
Shots allowed per game	29.51	11th	7th
Penalty minutes per game	14.51	15th	15th

Team Leaders
CATEGORY	LEADER(S)
Points	Derek Ryan (39), Trevor Carrick (34), Brock McGinn (27)
Goals	Derek Ryan, Brock McGinn (14), Brody Sutter, Patrick Brown (10)
Assists	Derek Ryan, Trevor Carrick (25), Jake Chelios (21)
Power play goals	Brock McGinn (7), Zach Boychuk (6)
Shorthanded goals	Patrick Brown, David Wohlberg, Brody Sutter (1)
Game-winning goals	Derek Ryan, Zach Boychuk (3)
Shots on goal	Zach Boychuk (141), Derek Ryan (119), Trevor Carrick (115)
Penalty minutes	Kyle Hagel (102), Mike Cornell (93), David Wohlberg (53)
Plus/minus	Brendan Woods (+7), Danny Biega (+5), Ethan Werek (+3)
Wins	Drew MacIntyre (11)
Goals-against average	Daniel Altshuller (2.51)
Save percentage	Daniel Altshuller (.916)