Checkers News

In front of a sell-out crowd on Race Night, the Checkers avenged themselves by edging the Oklahoma City Barons 3-2.

After a scoreless first period that saw the Checkers outshoot the Barons 11-5 and dominate the majority of the puck possession, Trevor Carrick put Charlotte on the board early in the second. The rookie launched a rocket from the point that found its way through traffic and past goalie Laurent Brossoit for his fourth goal of the season and his third point in four games.

The revamped Checkers power play extended the lead later in the frame when Brody Sutter fed a pass across the mouth of the crease for Zach Boychuk to tap in, putting Charlotte up by two. As has been the problem all season, the Checkers surrendered a goal directly following one of their own when Kellen Jones deflected a wrister from the circle and snuck it by Drew MacIntyre, cutting the Charlotte lead in half as they headed into the third period.

The Checkers chipped in the crucial third tally that has eluded them all year right off the bat in the final frame, as Sutter ripped a wrister in on the man advantage to push the lead back out to two goals. The Barons wouldn’t quit, pounding one home with the extra attacker in the final minute of regulation to put OKC within striking distance, but the Checkers tightened up and squashed the rally to head into the All-Star break with a victory.

One night after a collapse in the second period following a hot start, the Checkers avoided those same mistakes and did not take their foot off the gas once they got the lead.

“Last night we just didn’t play well in the second period,” said head coach Jeff Daniels. “It wasn’t a matter of letting them back in – we stopped playing. Tonight we committed to 60 minutes and we got rewarded.”

Surrendering late leads has been a habit for the Checkers this season, but keeping a strong mentality in the locker room was crucial in not falling back into that rut.

“We just tried to stay upbeat and positive,” said Sutter, whose goal tonight was his first since missing 26 games due to injury. “Sometimes we get too down on ourselves and we know we can play with anyone in this league when we play the way we’re capable of. We just tried staying positive, staying with the game plan and playing a full 60 tonight.”

As one of the team’s key offensive weapons, Boychuk bounced back from a subpar performance last night by putting up two points and leading the way for the Checkers attack.

“I think that’s how I’ve got to play,” said Boychuk. “Obviously being down here nobody’s going to feel sorry for me and I’ve got to battle through that. JD (Daniels) had a meeting with me before the game and said he wants to get me excited and he’d do anything he can to get me excited. I took that and was trying to battle hard and get involved.”

While still sitting in the cellar of the league rankings, the Checkers’ power play has been rejuvenated as of late thanks to an influx of new blood. With Boychuk, Michal Jordan and Ryan Murphy recently assigned from the NHL and Sutter returning from injury, the power play unit has gone 4-12 over the last four games.

“Obviously a couple of nice goals on the power play and that’s what we need to do to win,” said Boychuk. “We’re not generating a lot of chances at five-on-five so we need our specialty teams to step up when they can and they definitely did tonight.”

“Any time we can talk about scoring two power-play goals, that’s a good thing,” said Daniels. “We don’t talk about that a lot throughout the year. Obviously it was good.”

The Checkers will now enjoy a much-needed week off for the All-Star break, where they will look to recover from what was a grueling final three-in-three. With a win over the AHL’s top team to send them off, they will look to keep the momentum and come out of the break hot.

“You don’t want to go in losing three straight or whatever it’s been,” said Sutter. “We would have liked to get two or three out of the three games we played in the last three nights but we’ll take one and hopefully get on a roll here after the break.”

“We wanted to finish strong before the break,” said Boychuk. “We kind of gave up that one game in Norfolk and would have like to have gotten two points there and then had a tough performance yesterday after a long bus trip and getting in early. We had a great performance today and guys battled hard.”

“I thought tonight was probably our best effort,” said Daniels of the three-in-three set. “It’s a credit to the guys in that locker room to bear down for 60 minutes going into the break. We put it all out there.”

NOTES

The postgame Race Night jersey auction raised $15,800 for the Joey Logano Foundation, the Isabella Santos Foundation and Claire’s Army … Boychuk recorded his second multi-point game since returning from Carolina on Jan. 8 (eight games). Sutter’s multi-point game was his first of the season … Boychuk’s second point was his 300th as a professional … Chad LaRose’s assist on Boychuk’s goal extended his point streak to five games (2g, 3a), tying the Checkers’ longest of the season set twice previously (LaRose, Murphy). The Checkers’ scoring leader, he has 13 points in his last 16 games … The Checkers defeated the Barons for just the second time in eight attempts this season … The Checkers have earned points in seven of their last nine games (5-2-2) … Ryan Murphy played his 50th AHL game … MacIntyre has points in eight of his last nine starts (5-1-3) and has earned 13 of the Checkers’ 16 wins this season … The Checkers have recorded multiple power-play goals in two of their last four games. They did not do it once in their first 39 … The Checkers have faced the same opponent in consecutive games 16 times this season. They are a combined 3-8-4 in the first halves of those series and a combined 10-6-1 in the second … Brendan Woods left the game following a hit by the Barons’ Travis Ewanyk in the third period and did not return … Forwards Gabriel Desjardins, Kyle Hagel and Greg Nemisz and defenseman Beau Schmitz missed the game due to injury … Defenseman Dennis Robertson was a healthy extra.