Game Preview: Checkers vs. Lake Erie (Dec. 19, 2015)

The Checkers hope to carry one of their most successful stretches of the season into the holiday break as they host the Lake Erie Monsters for back-to-back games starting tonight.

Here are nine things to know about the match-up:

1. WE MEET AGAIN

This weekend’s match-ups continue the eight-game season series between Charlotte and Lake Erie. The teams split a pair of games in Lake Erie at the end of October, both of which were decided by one goal: the Monsters’ 3-2 victory on Oct. 29 and the Checkers’ 6-5 shootout win on Halloween in which the visitors erased a pair of two-goal deficits.

2. GOING STREAKING

The Checkers’ current four-game point streak (3-0-1) is their longest of the season, edging out only their franchise-best 3-0-0 start to the season back in October. The team was only able to put together one four-game point streak last season, another 3-0-1 stretch on Nov. 9-Dec. 6, 2014. Charlotte has not enjoyed a five-game point streak since April 7-16, 2013 (2-0-3).

Since a season-long three-game losing streak that ended Nov. 20, the Checkers have won seven of their last 11 outings.

3. WELCOME BACK MJ

Defenseman Michal Jordan has found the back of the net three times in the first two games of his conditioning stint from the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. After the second multi-goal game of his career on Thursday, he now has more goals this season than he did in 30 AHL games last season (two).

Jordan, one of three players to appear in at least one game in all six of the Checkers’ AHL seasons (teammates Zach Boychuk and Rasmus Rissanen), is set to become the second to play 300 games as a Checker tonight. Boychuk, who accomplished that feat last month, holds the franchise record with 307.

4. DEFENSE GETS OFFENSIVE

With Jordan and Rissanen each netting their first goals of the season on Tuesday, nine different defensemen have now scored at least one goal for the Checkers this season. Led by Trevor Carrick’s six goals that tie him for fourth among AHL defensemen, Charlotte blueliners have now combined for 22 goals, which is a league-leading 27.8 percent of the team’s total.

Last season, eight different defensemen combined for just 19 goals, which was 11 percent of the team’s total.

5. RYAN ON A ROLL

Checkers captain Derek Ryan enters tonight’s game on a four-game point streak that ties the second longest posted by a Charlotte skater this season (Phil Di Giuseppe scored in each of the team’s first five games from Oct. 10-21). Ryan has eight points (2g, 6a) during that time, which has pulled him into a tie for fifth in AHL scoring with 25 points in 26 games. Ryan, the reigning Swedish Hockey League MVP who is playing his first professional season in North America at age 28, has at least eight more points than any other Charlotte skater.

6. MURPHY’S LAW

Checkers defenseman Ryan Murphy has one game remaining on a three-game suspension for a clipping incident that occurred at Texas on Dec. 11. Murphy, an AHL All Star last season who has six points in six AHL games this season and 47 points in 56 career AHL contests, is eligible to return for tomorrow afternoon’s rematch against Lake Erie.

7. BETWEEN THE PIPES

Spelling veteran Drew MacIntyre, who has played in seven of the Checkers’ last nine games and ranks fifth in the AHL with 1,133 minutes played this season, Daniel Altshuller picked up the victory in his first career AHL start on Thursday.

Altshuller, the Hurricanes’ third-round draft choice in 2012, currently leads the ECHL with a 1.58 goals-against average and three shutouts. He ranks second with a .949 save percentage.

8. MONSTERS MASHING

Lake Erie enters tonight’s game ranked second in the Central Division and third in the Western Conference with a 15-7-3 record. Though they have lost four of their last seven games, three of those losses were against the high-flying Grand Rapids Griffins, who are currently on a 13-game winning streak.

9. FAMILIAR FOE

After stopping in Charlotte in a successful attempt to get back to the NHL during the 2013-14 season, center Manny Malhotra has joined the Monsters in a similar attempt to continue his career. Malhotra, a 35-year-old veteran of 991 career NHL games, has one assist in six games with Lake Erie this season. In his previous AHL stint, he only needed eight games with the Checkers to earn a contract with Carolina and subsequent two-year deal with the Montreal Canadiens that expired after last season.