Weekly Report: November 2, 2015

The Checkers' grueling month-long road trip finally reached its conclusion last week, with the team taking two of three contests to finish the stretch with a 6-4-0-0 mark.

The team will enjoy a few days off after returning to Charlotte before ramping up to take on the Manitoba Moose in their home opener at Bojangles' Coliseum.

Week in Review

Checkers 2, Rockford 1 (SO)

Charlotte entered their matchup with the IceHogs looking to break out of an offensive slump that saw them get shutout the game before in Chicago. After running their scoreless drought to over 100 minutes, Derek Ryan finally put the Checkers on the board, breaking a 0-0 deadlock late in the third period. But Rockford wouldn't go away, netting a 6-on-4 goal with under two mintues left in regulation to force overtime. The extra frame proved fruitless and the game proceeded to a shootout, where Drew MacIntyre, who had stopped 36 shots in the game, continued to shine. He turned aside all three shooters he faced and T.J. Hensick found the back of the net on his attempt to clinch the two points for Charlotte. Full recap

Lake Erie 3, Checkers 2

The Checkers found themselves in another tightly-contested, low-scoring affair two nights later in Cleveland, but couldn't break through, falling to the Monsters by a score of 3-2. Brody Sutter erased an early deficit with a strike in the second period, but the Monsters responded with a pair of tallies in the final six minutes of the frame to push back ahead. Trevor Carrick pulled the visitors back within one with a blast midway through the final frame, but the Checkers couldn't muster up anything else, and Lake Erie skated away with a victory. Full recap

Checkers 6, Lake Erie 5 (SO)

With just three goals scored in their previous nine periods of regulation, the Checkers' offense came back to life on Halloween. Despite finding themselves trailing by two goals three different times, the Checkers battled back to tie the game at five thanks to tally from Phil Di Giuseppe in the final minute of play. After another scoreless overtime, the Checkers once again found themselves in a shootout and once again it was Drew MacIntyre who stepped up and shut down the Lake Erie shooters. Derek Ryan threaded his attempt five-hole to give the Checkers an advantage, then MacIntyre stoned Daniel Zaar to cap Charlotte's monster road trip with a win. Full recap

Three Stars Of The Week

Notables

Starting Off

The Checkers' month-long, 10-game road trip to start the season has finally ended, with Charlotte coming away with a 6-4-0-0 record. That marks the team's best 10-game start since 2012-13 and the second-best record through their first 10 road games in the team's AHL history. Last year, the Checkers didn't get their sixth win until the 18th game of the season.

Boychuk Takes Over

With an assist on Phil Di Giuseppe's game-tying goal late in Saturday's contest in Lake Erie, Zach Boychuk became the Checkers' all-time scoring leader, surpassing his longtime teammate Chris Terry. Boychuk is already the franchise's all-time goals leader and is now nine shy of becoming the leader in games played and 10 shy in assists.

Mac Is Back

After setting Checkers’ single-season records for games and minutes played in a single season last season, Drew MacIntyre is on pace to do so once again after playing in each of the team’s first 10 games. Nine of those were starts, while the other appearance came in relief of rookie Rasmus Tirronen.

MacIntyre currently leads the AHL in games played (10) and minutes (551) and ranks second in saves (230), just two behind the leader.

Roller Coaster Offense

The Checkers' offense has seen its ups and downs so far this season. The team roared out of the gate with 21 goals in their first four games, but then mustered up just 10 through their next five. The team hopes to have broken that slump with a six-goal performance Saturday in Lake Erie, and still boast the fourth-best goals per game in the AHL.

Blue Line Production

The Checkers' hot offensive start has been aided by an explosion of production from their blue line, as four of the team's top seven scorers are defensemen. Trevor Carrick has built upon his record-breaking rookie season, sharing the league lead for goals among defensemen and ranking fourth among AHL defensemen in scoring. Along with Carrick, three other Checkers blue liners- Danny Biega, Jake Chelios and Jaccob Slavin- rank in the top 18 in scoring among AHL defensemen, all apart of a nine-way tie for 10th.

Finish Strong

Of the Checkers' 37 goals scored this season, 20 have come in the third period, the highest total in any period in the league. Additionally, the Checkers have scored the game-winning or game-tying goal in the final two minutes of regulation three times already this season.

On the opposite end of the spectrum have been the team's second periods. Through 10 games, the Checkers have only scored five goals in the middle frames.

Shootout Success

The Checkers won their third shootout in as many opportunities this season on Saturday. Between the pipes, Drew MacIntyre has been a perfect six-for-six, moving his mark to 27-for-29 in a Checkers sweater. Dating back to last season, the Checkers have won eight of their last nine shootouts.

Ranks

• Phil Di Giuseppe is tied for 11th in the AHL in scoring
• Derek Ryan is tied for 3rd in the AHL in goals
• Kyle Hagel is tied for the league lead in major penalties
• Zach Boychuk ranks second in the AHL in shots
• T.J. Hensick leads the league with two shootout goals and two shootout-winning goals
• Drew MacIntyre leads the league in minutes and shootout wins and ranks second in saves
• Jaccob Slavin is second among AHL rookies in assists, tied for first in shorthanded assists and tied for third in shots. He is also tied for second in shots among league defensemen, as well as tied for fourth in the AHL in plus-minus, tied for second among rookies, and tied for third among defensemen
• Trevor Carrick is tied for the lead among AHL defensemen in goals and tied for fourth in points.
• Danny Biega, Jake Chelios and Jaccob Slavin are all tied for 10th in scoring among AHL defensemen

Injuries

• Justin Shugg missed seven games starting 10/17

Milestones

• Keegan Lowe recorded his 200th AHL penalty minute on 10/31
• Brody Sutter played in his 150th AHL game on 10/29

Transactions

Incoming

• None

Outgoing

• None

Coming Up

By the Numbers

Team Statistics
CATEGORY	RECORD	AHL RANK	LAST WEEK
Power play	19.1%	12th	4th
Penalty kill	80.4%	t-20th	10th
Goals per game	3.70	4th	5th
Shots per game	34.10	4th	2nd
Goals allowed per game	3.30	24th	t-24th
Shots allowed per game	28.40	12th	t-9th
Penalty minutes per game	13.70	15th	6th

Team Leaders
CATEGORY	LEADER(S)
Points	Phil Di Giuseppe (10), Derek Ryan (8), Trevor Carrick (7)
Goals	Derek Ryan (6), Phil Di Giuseppe, Trevor Carrick (4)
Assists	Phil Di Giuseppe, Jaccob Slavin (6), Jake Chelios, Zach Boychuk (5)
Power play goals	Phil Di Giuseppe (3), Derek Ryan, Trevor Carrick (2)
Shorthanded goals	Patrick Brown (1)
Game-winning goals	Patrick Brown, Derek Ryan (1)
Shots on goal	Zach Boychuk (39), Phil Di Giuseppe (34), Derek Ryan (33)
Penalty minutes	Kyle Hagel (27), Trevor Carrick (13), Rasmus Rissanen (12)
Plus/minus	Jaccob Slavin (+8), Brendan Woods (+5), Brody Sutter (+3)
Wins	Drew MacIntyre(5)
Goals-against average	Drew MacIntyre (3.16)
Save percentage	Drew MacIntyre (.888)