Weekly Report: November 23, 2015

The Checkers split their weekend trip to the Lone Star state, stumbling against the Stars to run their losing streak to three before getting things back on track with a thrilling, come from behind victory over the Rampage.

The team will face a quick turnaround before playing four games in six days on home ice this week.

Week in Review

Texas 6, Checkers 2

Coming off of a sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Admirals the weekend before, the Checkers visited the Texas Stars looking to get back on the winning side of things. Despite falling behind 2-0 in the first, Charlotte battled back with power-play tallies from Justin Shugg and Trevor Carrick in the second to enter the final frame tied at two. The visitors unravled in the third, however, with the Stars striking twice in the first three minutes before adding two more to run away with a 6-2 victory. The loss dropped the Checkers below .500 for the first time this season and pushed their losing streak to a season-long three games. Full recap

Checkers 4, San Antonio 3

After a day off, the Checkers headed to San Antonio to face a Rampage team that hadn't lost a game in regulation on home ice and had only lost once in regulation overall. It looked as if they would roll to another victory Sunday when Joey Hishon scored midway through the second to put them on top 3-0. But Trevor Carrick lit the lamp for the second straight game to give the Checkers life heading into the third. After 13 minutes of tightly-contested play, Phil Di Giuseppe and Derek Ryan each scored within 22 seconds of each other to knot the game at three. Then it was Di Giuseppe again who collected a Zach Boychuk feed, dangled around a San Antonio defenseman, and stuffed home the go-ahead goal with under two minutes to play. Rasmus Tirronen shook off his bumpy start and was strong down the stretch to preserve the comeback win for Charlotte, snapping their losing skid. Full recap

Three Stars Of The Week

Notables

Comeback Kids

Sunday marked the fifth time this season that the Checkers have scored the game-winning or game-tying goal in the final two minutes of regulation. Two of those came off the stick of Phil Di Giuseppe. Of the Checkers' 50 goals scored this season, more than half (26) have come in the third period.

Still Searching

Despite being tied for third in the AHL with 60 shots on goal, Zach Boychuk has now gone 16 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.

But despite not finding the back of the net himself, Boychuk has found other ways to impact the game. With a trio of helpers on Sunday, he now has nine on the season, leading the team.

Carrick Shining

After turning in a historically strong rookie season a year ago, Trevor Carrick has not slowed down as a sophomore. The 21-year-old has scored six goals this season, good for second among league defensemen and tied for second on the team. His 10 points through 16 games lead all Checkers' blue liners, a group that has been integral in Charlotte's production this season.

Phil-ing It Up

With a pair of strikes on Sunday, second-year forward Phil Di Giuseppe now has a team-best 14 points in 16 games. After ranking second among team rookies in scoring a season ago, Di Giuseppe has come out firing on all cylinders, finding his way onto the score sheet in 11 of the team's 16 games. His five-game point streak to start the season also stands as the longest such streak so far.

Ryan On A Roll

Carolina's offseason acquisition Derek Ryan has not dissapointed in his first North American season. Ryan has netted a team-best eight goals this season, including three on the man advantage. He has been a reliable top line center and has not been held scoreless in consecutive games this season.

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 goals or less in six of their last 10 games, including being shutout twice. They have gone 3-7-0-0 over that stretch, including seeing their win percentage drop below .500 for the first time this season.

Sunday's win was hopefully a sign of the attack's reemergence, as it marked the first time the Checkers scored more than three goals since their Halloween win in Lake Erie.

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 three-game losing streak that was snapped Sunday in San Antonio. They will have a chance to get a winning streak going as they welcome the San Jose Barracuda and the Iowa Wild to town for a four-game home stand.

Ranks

• Zach Boychuk is tied for third in the AHL in shots
• Drew MacIntyre ranks fifth in the AHL in minutes and tied for first in shootout wins
• Trevor Carrick ranks second among league defensemen in goals, is tied for the lead in power-play goals, is tied for 14th in scoring and ranks fifth in shots on goal

Injuries

• Danny Biega missed four games from 11/7 to 11/20
• Tyler Ganly missed four games from 11/8 to 11/20
• Keegan Lowe missed five games starting 11/8
• T.J. Hensick missed four games starting 11/13
• Rasmus Rissanen missed three games starting 11/14

Milestones

• None

Transactions

Incoming

• None

Outgoing

• November 18 - (D) Jaccob Slavin recalled by Carolina (NHL)
• November 16 - (LW) Carter Sandlak assigned to Florida (ECHL)

Coming Up

By the Numbers

Team Statistics
CATEGORY	RECORD	AHL RANK	LAST WEEK
Power play	19.7%	8th	11th
Penalty kill	80.0%	23rd	18th
Goals per game	3.13	t-10th	12th
Shots per game	33.25	t-4th	2nd
Goals allowed per game	3.38	26th	23rd
Shots allowed per game	27.25	8th	7th
Penalty minutes per game	13.19	10th	11th

Team Leaders
CATEGORY	LEADER(S)
Points	Phil Di Giuseppe (14), Derek Ryan (12), Trevor Carrick (10)
Goals	Derek Ryan (8), Phil Di Giuseppe, Trevor Carrick (6)
Assists	Zach Boychuk (9), Phil Di Giuseppe (8), Jake Chelios (7)
Power play goals	Phil Di Giuseppe, Derek Ryan, Trevor Carrick (3)
Shorthanded goals	Patrick Brown (1)
Game-winning goals	Five tied (1)
Shots on goal	Zach Boychuk (60), Phil Di Giuseppe (54), Derek Ryan (48)
Penalty minutes	Kyle Hagel (34), Trevor Carrick (19), Mike Cornell (18)
Plus/minus	Brendan Woods (+3), Drayson Bowman (+2), Tyler Ganly (+1)
Wins	Drew MacIntyre (5)
Goals-against average	Rasmus Tirronen (3.02)
Save percentage	Drew MacIntyre (.885)