Weekly Report: November 16, 2015

With a roster decimated by injuries, the Checkers limped out of this weekend after suffering a two-game sweep at the hands of their division rivals, the Milwaukee Admirals.

The team will have a much needed week to regroup, recover, and refill their lineup before traveling to the state of Texas for weekend matchups with the Stars and Rampage.

Week in Review

Milwaukee 4, Checkers 3

After stomping the Admirals in their first meeting this season, the Checkers had no such luck in the rematch, falling by a score of 4-3. With injuries wiping out most of the Charlotte blue line, PTO-signee Mike Cornell was thrust into the lineup and did not dissapoint, netting two goals in his season debut with the Checkers. Justin Shugg tied the back-and-forth contest at three early in the third period, but Max Reinhart put the visitors back on top less than three minutes later and that proved to be the difference, as the Admirals held off a strong push by the Checkers in the final minutes.Full recap

Milwaukee 3, Checkers 1

The Admirals entered Saturday looking for their sixth consecutive win and the Checkers could not slow them down. Rookie netminder Juuse Saros turned in a stellar performance, frustrating the Checkers and nearly recording the shutout, though a Drayson Bowman strike with 30 seconds left broke that up. The Checkers offense was bottled up by Milwaukee, whose three goals in the first two periods would hold up as enough to drop the Checkers. Full recap

Three Stars Of The Week

Notables

Evaporated Offense

After roaring out of the gate with 27 goals in their first six games, the Checkers' offense has gone cold. They have been held to two or less goals in five of their last eight games, included being shutout twice. They have gone 3-5-0-0 over that stretch, bringing their overall points percentage down to .500.

Still Searching

Despite ranking third in the AHL with 55 shots on goal, Zach Boychuk has now gone 14 games without a goal, which marks the longest drought of his seven professional seasons. In his previous five seasons with Charlotte, his longest drought to start a season was five games in 2010-11. In every other season, he scored his first goal in either his first or second.

Boychuk, who won the Willie Marshall award as the AHL's top goal scorer with 36 in 2012-13, finished last season on a seven-game drought. His last goal was on March 22 at Iowa.

Everybody Hurts

The last four games have ravaged the Checkers' roster, leaving several key pieces sidelined. Up front isn't too bad, as T.J. Hensick is the only forward hurt, but he tweeted last week that he would "be out for a while". The blue line is where the Checkers are really feeling the hurt.

Danny Biega, Keegan Lowe and Tyler Ganly didn't practice all last week and missed both games over the weekend, while Rasmus Rissanen exited Friday's loss and did not return. The team was forced to play with five defensemen in three straight games before having Kyle Hagel, who hadn't played defense since college, fill in as the sixth blue liner on Saturday. Head coach Mark Morris had no specific updates following the weekend, but did offer this bit of info.

"I think they're more long-term than short," said Morris. "Chances are this week we'll see more faces coming our way."

Cornell. Ever Heard Of It?

Speaking of incoming new faces, the Checkers' most recent addition, Mike Cornell, stepped right into the lineup this weekend and made a splash, netting a pair of goals Friday for his first multi-goal game as a pro. The third-year pro joined Charlotte on a PTO from Florida on Thursday. He spent 18 games with the Checkers last season as well, scoring five points during his stay.

Bombs From The Blue Line

Led by Trevor Carrick, whose four goals are tied for third among AHL defensemen and just two off the league lead, Charlotte defensemen have scored 11 of the team's 43 goals this season. Five different blue liners have scored for the Checkers this season.

Consistently Inconsistent

Since starting the season with three straight wins, the Checkers have not won consecutive games. Charlotte had alternated wins and losses for nine games dating back to Oct. 21 before suffering a two-game sweep this weekend by Milwaukee.

Ranks

• Zach Boychuk ranks third in the AHL in shots
• T.J. Hensick leads the league in shootout-winning goals and is tied for the lead in shootoutgoals
• Drew MacIntyre ranks third in the AHL in minutes
• Jaccob Slavin is tied for the league lead among rookies in shorthanded assists
• Trevor Carrick is tied for third among league defensemen in goals

Injuries

• Danny Biega missed four games starting 11/7
• Tyler Ganly missed three game starting 11/8
• Keegan Lowe missed three games starting 11/8
• T.J. Hensick missed two games starting 11/13
• Rasmus Rissanen missed one game starting 11/14

Milestones

• None

Transactions

Incoming

• November 12 - (D) Justin Agosta recalled from Florida (ECHL)
• November 12 - (D) Mike Cornell signed to PTO
• November 11 - (LW) Brock McGinn assigned by Carolina (NHL)

Outgoing

• None

Coming Up

By the Numbers

Team Statistics
CATEGORY	RECORD	AHL RANK	LAST WEEK
Power play	18.8%	11th	9th
Penalty kill	82.3%	18th	18th
Goals per game	3.14	12th	5th
Shots per game	33.86	2nd	2nd
Goals allowed per game	3.21	23rd	t-22nd
Shots allowed per game	27.21	7th	9th
Penalty minutes per game	13.29	11th	16th

Team Leaders
CATEGORY	LEADER(S)
Points	Phil Di Giuseppe (11), Derek Ryan (10), Four tied(7)
Goals	Derek Ryan (7), Phil Di Giuseppe, Trevor Carrick (4)
Assists	Jaccob Slavin, Phil Di Giuseppe (7), Zach Boychuk, T.J. Hensick (6)
Power play goals	Phil Di Giuseppe, Derek Ryan (3), Trevor Carrick (2)
Shorthanded goals	Patrick Brown (1)
Game-winning goals	Patrick Brown, Derek Ryan, Jake Chelios, Brock McGinn (1)
Shots on goal	Zach Boychuk (55), Phil Di Giuseppe (43), Derek Ryan (42)
Penalty minutes	Kyle Hagel (34), Brendan Woods (17), Rasmus Rissanen (16)
Plus/minus	Jaccob Slavin (+6), Brendan Woods, Drayson Bowman (+3)
Wins	Drew MacIntyre (5)
Goals-against average	Rasmus Tirronen (3.02)
Save percentage	Drew MacIntyre (.887)