Weekly Report: March 6, 2016

The Checkers' struggles down the stretch continued last week as they suffered a pair of losses to their division rvial Grand Rapids Griffins.

With some new blood on the roster, the Checkers will look to turn things around during this upcoming four-game week.

Week in Review

Grand Rapids 4, Checkers 0

In their return to Bojangles’ Coliseum after a long road trip, the shorthanded Checkers came up empty against the Griffins. The home team fell behind in the first after an Eric Tangradi tally, then Grand Rapids blew the game open in the second with three consecutive goals. That fourth goal chased starter Daniel Altshuller from the game, relieved by newcomer John Muse, who stopped all 12 shots he faced. The Checkers couldn’t spark a rally, however, and Jared Coreau earned the shutout victory. Full recap

Grand Rapids 2, Checkers 1

In the next night's rematch, the Checkers turned in one of their strongest performances of late, but couldn't quite get over the hump. After battling through a scoreless first half of the opening period, the Griffins jumped in front with back-to-back shorthanded goals toward the end of the frame. John Muse, in his first start since rejoining the Checkers, shut the door for the rest of the game, and Keegan Lowe finally broke through and pulled Charlotte within one. But their attempt for a comeback fell short, and the Griffins escaped with the weekend sweep. Full recap

Three Stars Of The Week

Notables

Trouble At Home

Friday’s 4-0 loss to the Griffins extended Charlotte’s winless streak at home to seven games (0-6-1), marking the longest active streak of its kind in the AHL and a new franchise record. The team, which took one point from a six-game home stand to begin February and began another six-game run at the coliseum with last night’s loss, has not won at home since Jan. 23. Immediately prior to their current winless streak, the Checkers had gone 7-1-1 in their previous nine games at home.

Playoff Picture

Despite earning a win in their most recent contest, the Checkers currently find themselves on the outside looking in when it comes to the postseason. They sit fifth in the Central Division standings, trailing the Lake Erie Monsters by .071 for the final playoff slot.

The Checkers could also get into the playoffs via the new crossover rule, which puts the fifth-place team in the Central in the playoffs if they have a better record than the fourth-place team in the Pacific Division. That is currently the San Jose Barracuda, who have a slim .005 advantage over Charlotte.

In The Crease

After call ups and injuries forced the Checkers to do some shuffling in net, the tandem of Daniel Altshuller and Drew MacIntyre appears to be back in action. Both netminders turned in some of their best performances of the season recently, with MacIntyre earning a 29-save victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins last week and Altshuller stopping 27-of-28 shots last night against Manitoba to record his first win since Jan. 17.

Those performances are hopefully the start of a trend in the right direction for both goalies, who have struggled along with the team as of late. In the last 13 games, the starter has been pulled four times.

The Captain Heats Up

After cooling down from his red-hot start to the season, Derek Ryan appears to be getting back on a roll. With two tallies Sunday against Manitoba, the captain now has three goals in his last two games and five points in his last five games.

Since Feb. 10, Ryan hasn’t been held scoreless in consecutive games, a pattern he carried for much of the first half of the season.

Starved For Offense

After spending much of the beginning of this season near the top of the AHL in terms of goals per game, the Checkers have now fallen out of the top 10 for the first time. Charlotte has a record of 4-17-3 when scoring two or fewer goals this season, something it has done in 11 of its last 13 contests. When scoring three or more, the team is a much-improved 23-5-3.

Powering Up

While the team has struggled to score at five-on-five, they have been deadly on the man advantage. The Checkers’ power-play unit is tied for first in the AHL, producing at a 22.9% clip, and has scored a goal in 10 of the last 11 games.

The best power-play percentage at the end of the season in team history is 22.6% in 2013-14.

Carrick Cooking

Trevor Carrick has remained an consistent force on the Checkers’ blue line all season. With five helpers in his last five games, the second-year pro has overtaken Derek Ryan for the team lead in assists with 26. Carrick has already surpassed his totals from his rookie year and is moving up the franchise record books. He currently has the third-most assists and points by a Checkers defenseman in a single season with 21 games to go. He is also tied for third for the most goals by a Checkers defenseman in a single season, trailing the franchise record by four.

Ranks*

• Kyle Hagel ranks second in the AHL in major penalties (13)
• Daniel Altshuller ranks 17th in the AHL in goals against average (2.54) and third among rooke goaltenders
• Trevor Carrick is tied for fifth among AHL defensemen in scoring (35), third in power-play assists (16) and tied for second power-play points (20)
• Mike Cornell ranks third among AHL defensemen in major penalties (11)

Injuries

• Danny Biega missed 25 games starting 1/8

Transactions

Incoming

• March 6 - (C) Derek Ryan assigned to Charlotte
• March 6 - (LW) Brock McGinn assigned to Charlotte

Outgoing

• March 6 - (LW) Brendan Woods recalled by Carolina

Coming Up

By the Numbers

Team Statistics
CATEGORY	RECORD	AHL RANK	LAST WEEK
Power play	22.0%	2nd	1st
Penalty kill	83.3%	15th	t-13th
Goals per game	2.79	17th	11th
Shots per game	30.37	11th	12th
Goals allowed per game	3.11	21st	21st
Shots allowed per game	29.40	8th	9th
Penalty minutes per game	14.33	15th	15th

Team Leaders
CATEGORY	LEADER(S)
Points	Derek Ryan (42), Trevor Carrick (35), Brock McGinn (28)
Goals	Derek Ryan (17), Brock McGinn (14), Brody Sutter, Patrick Brown (10)
Assists	Trevor Carrick (26), Derek Ryan (25), Jake Chelios (21)
Power play goals	Brock McGinn, Derek Ryan (7), Zach Boychuk (6)
Shorthanded goals	Patrick Brown, David Wohlberg, Brody Sutter (1)
Game-winning goals	Derek Ryan (4)
Shots on goal	Zach Boychuk (154), Trevor Carrick (127), Derek Ryan (125)
Penalty minutes	Kyle Hagel (115), Mike Cornell (95), Keegan Lowe (58)
Plus/minus	Dennis Robertson (+9), Valentin Zykov (+7), Brendan Woods (+6)
Wins	Daniel Altshuller (10)
Goals-against average	Daniel Altshuller (2.67)
Save percentage	Daniel Altshuller (.911)