Down On The Farm – Checkers vs. Stars Game Day Preview

The Charlotte Checkers are hoping to increase their current win streak to six games after tonight’s contest with the Texas Stars at Time Warner Cable Arena. Texas will be looking for revenge as the Checkers took the first of the two game set between the teams by a score of 3-2. Charlotte now holds a five point lead in the Midwest Division and sits three points behind first place Oklahoma City in the Western Conference with 30 points (14-6-1-1). The Stars remain at the bottom of the West Division and have fallen to 13th place in the Western Conference with 17 points (8-11-0-1).

CHARLOTTE

Even though the Checkers and head coach Jeff Daniels were happy to come away with two points in the last game, they weren’t all that pleased with the effort on the ice. “I hold the bar pretty high for these guys because I’ve seen them at their best,” Daniels said after the game. “I still believe we can be better as a team.” The Checkers will be looking for a full 60-minute effort tonight in order to extend their franchise best win streak, increase their division lead, and move to within one point of first place in their conference.

One area of Wednesday’s game that Daniels was quick to praise was the penalty kill. Charlotte killed off all five of the Stars’ man-advantages, including a brief 5-on-3 chance. The Checkers kill was eighteenth in the league going into the game, facing a Stars powerplay that was third best in the league. Charlotte’s powerplay, however struggled, going 0 for 5 on the night and dropping from fifth in the league down to eleventh.

Left wing Chris Terry remains one of the hottest Checkers, grabbing an assist on Wednesday which extended his career long point streak to eight games (2G, 9A). The streak is currently the second longest active point streak in the AHL.  Zac Dalpe and Zach Boychuk have been playing well since their reassignments from Carolina with Dalpe picking up five points (3G, 2A) in his last five games and Boychuk scoring three points (1G, 2A) in his last four.

Jon Matsumoto has been steady at center all season and has six points (3G, 3A) in his last five games. His goal on Wednesday night moved him into the team’s scoring lead with 21 points, one point over Jerome Samson. Even though Samson is scoreless in his last two, he still has 6 points (2G, 4A) in his last five games. Defenceman Michal Jordan continues to provide offense from the blueline with six points (1G, 5A) in his last six games.

Center Cedric McNicoll and defenceman Bobby Sanguinetti remain out with injuries and will be unavailable for the game.

Goaltender Mike Murphy put in another strong performance in his start on Wednesday. After allowing two quick goals midway through the first period, he went on to make 19 saves in the last two frames en route to the victory. Despite Murphy’s strong performance, Justin Peters will likely get the start in net tonight as he is up next in Coach Jeff Daniels’ rotation. Peters has also been playing extremely well and was rewarded for his efforts this week by being named AHL Goaltender of the Month after posting a 5-1-1-0 record with a 1.63 goals against average and a 0.949 save percentage.

TEXAS

The Texas Stars enter tonight’s match-up with just three wins in their last ten games. Their loss to the Checkers on Wednesday gave them two straight losses.

Tyler Beskorowany will likely get the call in net again. The Stars goaltender has a 1-5-0 record this season along with a 3.19 goals against average and 0.891 save percentage. He stopped 21 of 24 Checkers’ shots in the last game.

Leading point scorer and assist man Travis Morin (4G, 15A for 19 points) picked up a helper on Texas’ first goal Wednesday. Rookie Matt Fraser leads all active Stars with 9 goals and 81 shots on net.

Even after going 0 for 5 with the man-advantage in the last game against the Checkers, the Stars still have the league’s third best powerplay.

SEASON SERIES:
Checkers lead season series 1-0-0
Wednesday, 30-Nov-2011:      Checkers 3, Stars 2
Saturday, 03-Dec-2011:           Stars at Checkers, 7:00pm EST
Friday, 09-Dec-2011:                Checkers at Stars, 8:30pm EST
Saturday, 04-Feb-2012:           Checkers at Stars, 8:00pm EST

Texas

NHL Affiliate

Carolina HurricanesDallas Stars

Record

14-6-1-1  (8-1-0-1 at home)8-11-0-1  (5-5-0-0 on road)

Standing

1

st

in Midwest Division

2

nd

in Western Conference5

th

in West Division

13

th

in Western Conference

Goals per Game

3.002.95

Goals Against per Game

2.453.30

Powerplay

Overall:

22 for 113 (19.5%) –

11

th

in AHL

Home:

8 for 51 (15.7%) –

20

th

in AHL

Overall:

25 for 101 (24.8%) –

3

rd

in AHL

Road:

11 for 43 (25.6%) –

2

nd

in AHL

Penalty Kill

Overall:

75 for 91 (82.4%) –

13

th

in AHL

Home:

33 for 39 (84.6%) –

11

th

in AHL

Overall:

70 for 86 (81.4%) –

18

th

in AHL

Road:

34 for 39 (87.2%) – 6

th

in AHL

Penalty Minutes per Game

14.8214.65

Team Leaders

Points:

J. Matsumoto (21)

Goals:

J. Matsumoto, J. Samson (9)

Assists:

Chris Terry (14)

Shots:

Jerome Samson (97)

+/- :

J. Matsumoto (+9)

PIM:

Justin Soryal (47)

Wins:

Mike Murphy (8)

GAA:

Justin Peters (2.17)

SAV%:

Justin Peters (0.932)

Points:

Travis Morin (19)

Goals:

Tomas Vincour (10)

Travis Morin (15)

Shots:

Matt Fraser (81)

+/- :

Francis Wathier (+8)

PIM:

Luke Gazdic (37)

Wins:

Richard Bachman (7)

GAA:

Richard Bachman (3.13)

SAV%:

Tyler Beskorowany (0.891)

Current Team Streak

5 wins2 losses

Hurricanes / Checkers fans – come on out to TWCA to support our future Canes. If you are not able to make it to Charlotte, the game will be broadcast on Time Warner digital cable channel 520 throughout the Carolinas. Both audio and video can also be found on www.AHLLive.com or you can receive game updates on Twitter by following @CheckersHockey.

Don’t forget to check out Cardiac Cane on Facebook and you can follow all of our writers on Twitter: @CardiacCaneFS, @Esbee92, @caniac176, and @peacelovepuck.