Weekly Report: November 30, 2015

The Checkers played a staggering four games this week, splitting a pair of weekday matchups with San Jose before sweeping the Iowa Wild over the weekend. They have now won four of their last five contests, making this their best stretch of the season so far.

After getting time this week to regroup, the Checkers will welcome the Ontario Reign to town for a two-game series to wrap up this six-game home stand.

Week in Review

Checkers 3, San Jose 1

Returning home after a big road win over the San Antonio Rampage, the Checkers earned consecutive wins for the first time since their three-game streak to start the season by rolling over the San Jose Barracuda 3-1. The home team broke the game open with three goals in the final six minutes of the first period, including two on the power play, to build a sizeable lead. The Barracuda fought back but couldn't muster up enough to overtake the Checkers. Rookie Rasmus Tirronen made 28 saves and earned the victory, though his shutout bid was spoiled by a six-on-four goal by San Jose with just 14 seconds left on the clock. Full recap

San Jose 3, Checkers 1

The Barracuda turned the tables in the rematch two days later, however, snapping the Checkers' winning roll. This time it was San Jose who got out in front early, netting a pair of first period strikes. Patrick Brown sniped one in the second to pull the home team within one heading into the final frame, but Nikolay Goldobin deflected one past Drew MacIntyre midway through the third to clinch the San Jose win and earn his team the series split. Full recap

Checkers 7, Iowa 4

The Wild limped into Charlotte buried at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, but dominated the Checkers for 40 minutes, heading into the third with a sizeable 4-1 advantage. But the Checkers exploded in the third, racking up four goals in the first seven minutes to take the lead, then adding two more for good measure to roll to a 7-4 victory. The win marked the seventh straight time the Checkers have beaten the Wild, dating back to last season. Full recap

Checkers 2, Iowa 1 (SO)

While it didn't have the offensive fireworks that Saturday's contest had, Sunday's rematch again ended with the Checkers coming away with two points against the Wild. Ryan Murphy gave Charlotte the lead in the second, but Zack Mitchell converted a breakaway to knot things up in the third. After a high-octane overtime period that yielded no goals, the game proceeded to a shootout, where the Checkers continued to dominate. Drew MacIntyre turned aside both Wild attempts he faced to remain perfect in shootouts this season, while Justin Shugg and Derek Ryan both foudn the back of the net to snatch the win and extend Iowa's winless streak to 13 games. Full recap

Three Stars Of The Week

Notables

Comeback Kids

Saturday’s win over Iowa marked the fourth time the Checkers have erased a deficit of at least two goals in the third period this season. Two of those came against Iowa, both of which were three-goal deficits. All four games resulted in wins, three of which came during regulation and one of which came in a shootout.

Charlotte now has three wins when trailing after two periods, which is tied with Chicago for most in the AHL. The Checkers have 32 third-period goals, a total that accounts for 51 percent of the team’s total and is tied for the second-most by any AHL team in any period (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has 36 in the second, while Texas also has 32 in the third).

What A Period

The Checkers’ six-goal outburst in the third period on Saturday marked the highest single-period total of any AHL team this season. It was actually two shy of tying the franchise record of eight set against Syracuse during the inaugural 2010-11 campaign.

Boychuk On The Board

After enduring a 16-game goalless drought, the longest of his career, Zach Boychuk finally found the back of the net with a power-play tally Wednesday against San Jose before adding another two games later against Iowa.

While the goals are just now starting to fall for the former Willie Marshall Award-winner, Boychuk has been a force this season for the Checkers. He leads the team with 11 assists thus far and has racked up seven points in his last five games.

Boychuk also picked up several career milestones this week. He became the first player to appear in 300 games as a Checker on Saturday, passing Chris Terry for the franchise's all-time lead, and earned his 300th AHL point on Sunday. Boychuk, who took the franchise goals-leader crown last season, became the Checkers leading scorer earlier this season.

Offense Heating Up

Despite its inconsistent nature so far this season, the Checkers' offensive attack has remained one of the best in the league, currently ranking seventh overall in terms of goals per game. The team boasts six different skaters with over 10 points through the first 20 games of the season compared to just one at this time last year.

A big part of that success has been the sheer number of pucks that the Checkers are putting on net. Charlotte ranks eighth in the AHL in shots on goal per game as a team and have two players (Phil Di Giuseppe and Zach Boychuk) who are in the top three in shots individually.

Murphy's Return

Defenseman Ryan Murphy rejoins the Checkers as he continues to rehab from a concussion suffered while playing for the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes on Nov. 14. In his first two AHL games since Jan. 23 of last season, Murphy recorded three points (1g, 2a).

An AHL All-Star with the Checkers last season, Murphy has 44 points (4g, 40a) in 52 career AHL games dating back to the 2012-13 season. He holds Charlotte’s all-time records for longest assist streak and longest point streak, both of which lasted 12 games in 2013-14.

Ryan On A Roll

Derek Ryan has not dissapointed in his first North American season. The former Swedish league MVP has 16 points in 20 games this season and leads the team in goals and points. While the team as a whole has struggled with consistency this season, the captain has been one player that they have leaned on game in and game out, and has not been held off the scoresheet in consecutive games this year.

Shootout Success

With Sunday's win over Iowa, the Checkers improved to 4-0 this season in shootouts and have now won eight straight shootouts dating back to last season. A big part of that success has been the play of Drew MacIntyre, who turned aside both Wild shooters he faced on Sunday to remain perfect in shootouts this season. In his two seasons as a member of the Checkers, MacIntyre has stopped 29 of 31 shootout attempts.

Power Surge

After reaching near historic lows with their power play a season ago, the Checkers have been reinvigorated this season. They have netted 19 power-play goals in 20 games, with their 21.8 percentage ranking as the fifth-best in the AHL. Including a two-goal performance on Saturday, the Checkers have scored multiple power-play goals in six games this season.

Ranks

• Zach Boychuk ranks third in the AHL in shots (69)
• Phil Di Giuseppe ranks second in the AHL in shots (71)
• Drew MacIntyre ranks second in the league in minutes (889) and leads the league in shootout wins (3)
• Trevor Carrick is tied for second among AHL defensemen in goals and tied for 12th in points (12)

Injuries

• Keegan Lowe missed seven games from 11/8 to 11/28
• T.J. Hensick missed eight games starting 11/13
• Rasmus Rissanen missed seven games starting 11/14

Milestones

• Zach Boychuk became the first to play 300 games as a Checker and passed Chris Terry for the franchise's all-time lead on 11/28
• Justin Shugg tied Jerome Samson for fifth on the Checkers' all-time goals list on 11/28
• Zach Boychuk recorded his 300th AHL point on 11/29
• Danny Biega played his 150th AHL game on 11/29

Transactions

Incoming

• November 26 - (D) Ryan Murphy assigned to Charlotte (AHL)

Outgoing

• None

Coming Up

By the Numbers

Team Statistics
CATEGORY	RECORD	AHL RANK	LAST WEEK
Power play	21.8%	5th	8th
Penalty kill	82.6%	18th	23rd
Goals per game	3.15	7th	t-10th
Shots per game	31.70	8th	t-4th
Goals allowed per game	3.15	24th	26th
Shots allowed per game	26.90	6th	8th
Penalty minutes per game	13.85	14th	10th

Team Leaders
CATEGORY	LEADER(S)
Points	Derek Ryan (16), Phil Di Giuseppe (14), Zach Boychuk (13)
Goals	Derek Ryan (8), Phil Di Giuseppe, Trevor Carrick, Brock McGinn (6)
Assists	Zach Boychuk (11), Phil Di Giuseppe, Jake Chelios, Derek Ryan (8)
Power play goals	Phil Di Giuseppe, Derek Ryan, Trevor Carrick (3)
Shorthanded goals	Patrick Brown (1)
Game-winning goals	Seven tied (1)
Shots on goal	Phil Di Giuseppe (71), Zach Boychuk (69), Derek Ryan (53)
Penalty minutes	Kyle Hagel (41), Mike Cornell (26), Danny Biega, Brendan Woods (24)
Plus/minus	Brendan Woods (+3), Drayson Bowman (+2), Three tied (+1)
Wins	Drew MacIntyre (7)
Goals-against average	Rasmus Tirronen (3.01)
Save percentage	Drew MacIntyre (.889)