Point Streak up to 12 with Win in San Diego

The Checkers’ franchise-record point streak hit 12 games as the team defeated the San Diego Gulls by a 4-2 score on Saturday.

T.J. Hensick scored the winning goal in the third period and Daniel Altshuller made 37 saves as Charlotte improved to 10-0-2 over the course of its current streak, which is the second-longest posted by an AHL team this season. Zach Boychuk, Justin Shugg and Brody Sutter also scored for Charlotte, which went 5-0-1 in its California road trip and returns home to begin a six-game home stand on Tuesday.

Charlotte also extended its franchise-record point streak on the road to nine games (8-0-1), which is the longest active streak in the league and ties the second-longest this season. Its 14 victories on the road are the second-most in the AHL and two more than the team recorded all of last season.

The Checkers faced a 2-1 deficit for much of this game, as the Gulls’ Mike Sgarbossa and Nick Ritchie scored first-period goals to cancel out Boychuk’s opener that occurred just 1:06 into the contest. However, a pretty wraparound goal by Shugg late in the second and Hensick’s tally early in the third turned the tide, with Sutter securing an empty-net goal from center ice in the final minute of regulation.

With yet another spectacular outing, Altshuller improved to 7-0-1 in his young AHL career that dates back to his first start on Dec. 17. The Carolina Hurricanes prospect, who stopped a pair of shorthanded breakaways and stepped up with a sprawling glove save late in the third period to preserve the lead, now boasts a 1.48 goals-against average and a .950 save percentage in the league.

With Boychuk and Hensick both scoring on the man advantage, the Checkers secured their third straight game with two power-play goals. They have at least one goal on the man advantage in each of their last six games and own a 33.3 percent success rate during that time.

The only point streak posted by an AHL team that is longer than the Checkers’ current run is a 15-game stretch by the Grand Rapids Griffins, who Charlotte next plays at Bojangles’ Coliseum on Tuesday and Wednesday, that ended Dec. 26.

NOTES

Charlotte’s last regulation loss came on Dec. 6 against Ontario … Sergey Tolchinsky picked up a pair of assists to extend his point streak to five games (3g, 5a) … Hensick has eight points (4g, 4a) in his last eight games … Forward Carter Sandlak, defenseman Danny Biega and goaltender Drew MacIntyre missed the game due to injury.