Hometown Weekly Report: December 4

A reloaded Checkers lineup enjoyed a strong week on home ice, sweeping the Springfield Thunderbirds to avenge losses earlier this month. The team will now put their focus on an impending two-game road trip starting Friday in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Week in Review

Checkers 4, Springfield 1

Hosting the Springfield Thunderbirds – helmed by former Charlotte assistant coach Geordie Kinnear – for the first time ever, the Checkers rode a dominant performance from Warren Foegele to a big win. After Andrew Miller put the home team ahead with a wicked wrister from the slot, Foegele added to the lead with a pair of breakaway tallies less than five minutes apart in the middle frame. The Thunderbirds would finally break through on netminder Alex Nedeljkovic early in the third, but it wouldn’t be enough to stop the Checkers as Foegele deposited one more into the empty net to secure his first pro hat trick. Full recap

Checkers 4, Springfield 3

Sunday’s rematch proved to be a much closer affair. After falling into a 2-0 hole in the first, Lucas Wallmark notched his first goal since returning from injury to cut the deficit in half. Springfield responded in the second, however, lighting the lamp to regain their two-goal advantage midway through regulation. But a power-play tally from the captain Patrick Brown shortly after kickstarted the Checkers’ offense, which tied the game late in the middle frame and then won it thanks to a snipe from Aleksi Saarela in the final six minutes of play. Full recap

Three Stars Of The Week

Notables

FOEGELE LIGHTS IT UP

With his three goals Friday night against Springfield, Warren Foegele notched the ninth hat trick in franchise history. He is the sixth different player to reach that mark and the only Checkers rookie to do so.

One of Foegele’s tallies that night came on the penalty kill, giving him four shorthanded goals this season. That total sets a new single-season franchise record, breaking Zac Dalpe’s mark from the 2012-13 campaign, while Foegele’s five shorthanded points are tied for the most in team history with Chad LaRose’s 2014-15 effort.

Foegele’s big night boost him to the team lead in goals with 12, a total that also moves him into a tie for third in the league overall. The franchise record for goals by a rookie is 24, set last season by Lucas Wallmark.

BISHOP BREAKS OUT

Clark Bishop played a big part in Foegele’s hat trick Friday, picking up an assist on all three goals. That career high single-game point total boosted the forward to 12 points on the year, doubling his rookie mark in exactly half as many games.

Bishop is one of four Checkers to reach double-digit helpers this season, while his two shorthanded assists are tied for the league lead and just one shy of matching the franchise single-season record.

MILLER GETS BACK ON TRACK

After not being held off the scoresheet in consecutive games to start the year, Andrew Miller fell into a four-game scoreless streak in mid-November, but has come out of that slump firing. The forward has five points in his last five games, including three in his last two, and has taken over the team scoring lead.

WINNING NED

The Checkers seem to have found their man between the pipes, as Alex Nedeljkovic picked up his 11 win of the season Sunday afternoon. That win total puts the goalie in a tie for the league lead and eclipses his total of eight wins from all of last season.

Charlotte’s stingy defense, which ranks 11th in goals against per game and ninth in shots allowed per game, has had a hand in Nedeljkovic’s hot start as the young netminder has not had to make 30 saves in any of his wins this season.

WALLMARK AND ZYKOV BRING BOOST

After playing the last week without Lucas Wallmark or Valentin Zykov in the lineup, the Checkers received a formidable boost this weekend when both returned to action.

Wallmark, who had been out since Nov. 10, picked up a helper in his first game back on Friday then lit the lamp in Sunday’s rematch to remain in a tie for second on the team in scoring despite playing significantly fewer games. Zykov notched an assist in Friday’s contest and helped reunite the top line of him, Wallmark and Miller.

In the nine games that Wallmark was out of the lineup the Checkers went 3-5-1, including their longest losing streak of the season. For the three games that both Wallmark and Zykov were sidelined, Charlotte went 1-1-1.

GOING STREAKING

The Checker have earned points in each of their last four games (3-0-1), which ties their longest point streak of the season, matching a four-game run of wins from Nov. 3-10. Since dropping four straight games in regulation immediately following that win streak, the Checkers have gone 4-1-1 since Nov. 21.

Ranks

• Warren Foegele leads all rookies in goals and is tied for third in the AHL overall, leads the league in shorthanded goals and points, is tied for sixth among league rookies in scoring, ranks third among league rookies in shooting percentage and is tied for third among rookies in game-winning goals
• Valentin Zykov is tied for second in the AHL in power-play goals
• Clark Bishop is tied for the league lead in shorthanded assists
• Philip Samuelsson is tied for third among league defensemen and is tied for fifth overall in plus/minus
• Alex Nedeljkovic is tied for the league lead in wins
• Nicolas Roy is tied for second among league rookies in shorthanded goals and points

INJURIES

• Jake Chelios missed 14 games starting Nov. 3

Transactions

Incoming

• None

Outgoing

• Nov. 28: (D) Tyler Ganly assigned to Florida (ECHL)

Coming Up

By the Numbers

CATEGORY	RECORD	AHL RANK	LAST WEEK
Power play	21.7%	3rd	t-2nd
Penalty kill	85.2%	7th	12th
Goals per game	3.65	3rd	3rd
Shots per game	29.09	21st	20th
Goals allowed per game	3.04	11th	18th
Shots allowed per game	28.87	9th	13th
Penalty minutes per game	12.91	11th	9th

CATEGORY	LEADER(S)
Points	Andrew Miller (19), Lucas Wallmark, Warren Foegele (17)
Goals	Warren Foegele (12), Valentin Zykov (10), Aleksi Saarela (8)
Assists	Lucas Wallmark, Andrew Miller (12), Trevor Carrick (11)
Power play goals	Valentin Zykov (6), Patrick Brown, Aleksi Saarela (3)
Shorthanded goals	Warren Foegele (4), Nicolas Roy (2)
Game-winning goals	Warren Foegele (3)
Shots on goal	Trevor Carrick, Warren Foegele, Andrew Poturalski (41)
Penalty minutes	Zack Stortini (42), Patrick Brown (34), Trevor Carrick (29)
Plus/minus	Philip Samuelsson (+13), Lucas Wallmark, Clark Bishop, Roland McKeown (+9)
Wins	Alex Nedeljkovic (11)
Goals-against average	Alex Nedeljkovic (2.48)
Save percentage	Alex Nedeljkovic (.907)