Down On The Farm – Checkers at Admirals Game Day Preview
The Charlotte Checkers are in Norfolk tonight for a 7:15pm EST game against the Admirals. The Checkers defeated the Admirals in the teams’ previous meeting, a 3-1 win at TWCA, however the Admirals lead the season series having won the first two match-ups in Norfolk early in October. One of those was a shootout win giving Norfolk four points and Charlotte three thus far.
CHARLOTTE
The Checkers are coming out of a weekend split against the Rockford Icehogs where they earned three out of a possible four points with a 3-2 shootout loss on Friday and a 4-3 regulation win on Sunday.
Two Checkers are taking scoring streaks into tonight’s contest – Chris Terry has a three-game streak (3A) and defenceman Michal Jordan has a two-game streak (1G, 2A). In addition to Terry and Jordan, center Jon Matsumoto has been one of the hottest Checkers this past week, amassing 4 points (3G, 1A) in his last 4 games.
As a team struggling to live up to its offensive potential, the Checkers will be looking to recent additions Zac Dalpe and Zach Boychuk for help. The two top scoring prospects for the Hurricanes were reassigned to Charlotte on Monday. In Friday’s game against Rockford, Dalpe scored the game-tying goal late in the third period and also picked up an assist on Jordan’s second period goal for a two point night. He was recalled by Carolina on Saturday, but did not play and was returned to Charlotte just two days later. Boychuk, who spent the last month in Carolina, has scored six points (4G, 2A) in his seven games with the Checkers this season.
Charlotte will again be without center Cedric McNicoll, who is still out with an injury and is thought to be at least a week out from returning to the line-up. The team will also be playing without captain Brett Sutter who was recalled to the Hurricanes on Monday. The Checkers will need someone to step into Sutter’s penalty-killing skates as they face one of the top powerplays in the league in Norfolk.
Injured defenceman Bobby Sanguinetti has traveled to Norfolk with the team and is expected to be a game-time decision tonight.
Charlotte goaltender Justin Peters is expected to get the start in net tonight. Peters came into a tie game on Sunday against Rockford in place of an injured Mike Murphy and allowed only one goal on 26 shots to pick up the win. In his last 5 games, Peters has stopped 139 of 146 shots giving him a 0.952 save percentage and a 1.48 goals against average in that span. Murphy has resumed practicing with the team and will be available to suit up tonight.
NORFOLK
Like the Checkers, the Admirals are also coming off a weekend split, having defeated the St. John’s Ice Caps by a score of 6-2 on Friday before losing to them the next night 3-1.
Norfolk is an extremely talented offensive team. The Admirals’ powerplay, clicking at 26.7%, ranks fourth in the league overall and second in the league at home (28.6%). Their top three scorers (Cory Conacher – 9G, 12A; Trevor Smith – 8G, 12A; Carter Ashton – 12G, 7A) rank among the top ten in the AHL. Conacher, a rookie, is currently riding a seven-game point scoring streak during which he has picked up 10 points (5G, 5A). Ashton, also a rookie, is tied for the AHL lead in goals scored (12). Blueliner Mark Barberio leads all AHL defencemen with 16 points.
SEASON SERIES:
Norfolk leads series 2-1
Friday, 07-Oct-2011: Admirals 6, Checkers 5 (OT)
Saturday, 08-Oct-2011: Admirals 4, Checkers 3
Sunday, 23-Oct-2011: Checkers 3, Admirals 1
Wednesday, 23-Nov-2011: Checkers at Admirals, 7:15pm EST
Tuesday, 24-Jan-2012: Checkers at Admirals, 7:15pm EST
Sunday, 12-Feb-2012: Admirals at Checkers, 6:00pm EST
Friday, 16-Mar-2012: Admirals at Checkers, 7:00pm EDT
Sunday, 18-Mar-2012: Admirals at Checkers, 3:00pm EDT
Charlotte |
Norfolk
NHL Affiliate
Carolina HurricanesTampa Bay Lightning
Record
10-6-1-1 (5-5-1-0 on road)10-7-0-1 (3-2-0-1 at home)
Standing
1
st
in Midwest Division
3
rd
in Western Conference2
nd
in East Division
4
th
in Eastern Conference
Goals per Game
2.723.67
Goals Against per Game
2.562.89
Powerplay
Overall:
17 for 90 (18.9%) – 13
th
in AHL
Road:
11 for 56 (19.6%) – 13
th
in AHL
Overall:
20 for 75 (26.7%) – 4
th
in AHL
Home:
10 for 35 (28.6%) – 2
nd
in AHL
Penalty Kill
Overall:
61 for 75 (81.3%) – 16
th
in AHL
Road:
41 for 51 (80.4%) – 22
nd
in AHL
Overall:
63 for 80 (78.8%) – 24
th
in AHL
Home:
20 for 28 (71.4%) – 27
th
in AHL
Penalty Minutes per Game
15.2817.83
Team Leaders
Points:
J. Matsumoto (17)
Goals:
Matsumoto, Samson (7)
Assists:
J. Matsumoto (10)
Shots:
J. Samson (88)
+/- :
D. Bowman (+7)
PIM:
J. Soryal (40)
Wins:
M. Murphy (6)
GAA:
J. Peters (2.22)
SAV%:
M. Murphy (0.923)
Points:
C. Conacher (21)
Goals:
C. Ashton (12)
Assists:
M. Barberio (16)
Shots:
T. Smith (55)
+/- :
T. Smith (+12)
PIM:
M. Angelidis (35)
Wins:
Tokarski, Janus (5)
GAA:
D. Tokarski (2.70)
SAV%:
J. Janus (0.908)
Current Team Streak
1 win1 loss
Hurricanes fans – Both audio and video of the game can be found on www.AHLLive.com or you can receive game updates on twitter by following @CheckersHockey.
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