January 20, 2012 7:38 AM
The Checkers begin their longest road trip of the season in terms of distance traveled when they open a back-to-back, two-game set against the Abbotsford Heat tonight (10 p.m.).
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GAME INFORMATION |
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WATCH: www.AHLLive.com |
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LISTEN: WFNZ 610 AM | www.AHLLIVE.com |
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TWITTER: @CheckersInGame | @PaulBranecky |
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SEASON SERIES |
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Friday, Jan. 20 at 10 p.m. (Abbotsford) |
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Saturday, Jan. 21 at 10 p.m. (Abbotsford) |
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Friday, April 6 at 7 p.m. (Charlotte) |
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Sunday, April 8 at 3 p.m. (Charlotte) |
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CHECKERS STATS |
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RECORD
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23-14-4 |
2nd Western Conference
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GOALS / GAME
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2.83 |
t-17th AHL |
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GOALS ALLOWED / GAME
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2.68
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7th AHL |
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POWER PLAY |
19.7%
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9th AHL |
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PENALTY KILL
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83.0% |
11th AHL |
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PIM / GAME
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14.4 |
6th AHL |
Charlotte (23-14-4) enters tonight’s match-up having won each of its last two games, both of which came at home against Grand Rapids. The game will mark their first-ever meeting with Abbotsford (24-13-3), with the Heat scheduled to conclude the four-game season series with a visit to Charlotte in April.
Despite having one more point in the standings than the Checkers, who lead the Midwest Division, Abbotsford ranks third in a West Division that features the conference’s top three teams. The Checkers are 7-8-1 against the West this season, the only division in which they have a losing record.
CHARLOTTE
The Checkers will have a few new faces on their roster, with forwards Evgenii Dadonov and A.J. Jenks joining the team via a Carolina Hurricanes’ trade with the Florida Panthers on Wednesday. Those players, who were acquired in exchange for Checkers leading scorer Jon Matsumoto, arrived in Abbotsford Thursday evening and will be available for their Charlotte debuts tonight.
According to coach Jeff Daniels, Dadonov will play wing on a scoring line, while Jenks could join a committee of centers that will need to step up to fill the void down the middle caused by the recall of Zac Dalpe and the trade of Matsumoto.
“We’ll see how it plays out in the next couple of weeks,” said Daniels. “Jonny was a good player for us for the last year and a half and he’ll be missed, but we’ve got two young kids coming in that deserve a look.”
With Dalpe and Matsumoto gone, the spotlight will turn to Riley Nash, who is likely to become the team’s No. 1 center in just his second game back from a lower-body injury. Nash started on the fourth line in Tuesday’s win over Grand Rapids as the team attempted to work him back into the lineup following a five-game absence.
“Nash will play a bigger role,” said Daniels. “He was getting a look there before he got hurt and really all year has played more of a role in special teams than last year. We kind of eased him in to the lineup (on Tuesday), but the plan all along was to play him in a bigger role on Friday.”
Nash recorded a goal and an assist in his last game prior to being injured, giving him 3 points (1g, 2a) in four games since returning from his first NHL stint with Carolina.
“He was on the verge of going back up before the injury,” said Daniels.
Brett Sutter rejoins the Checkers after missing the last six games due to NHL recall and will be in the lineup against his former team tonight. Defenseman Ryan Donald, recalled from ECHL Florida earlier in the week, will make his Checkers debut in place of the injured Chris Murray.
Update: The Checkers assigned center Cedric McNicoll to the ECHL's Florida Everblades.
ABBOTSFORD
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ABBOTSFORD STATS |
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RECORD
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24-13-3 |
5th Western Conference
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GOALS / GAME
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2.55 |
25th AHL |
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GOALS ALLOWED / GAME
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2.33
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2nd AHL |
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POWER PLAY |
19.0%
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11th AHL |
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PENALTY KILL
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87.9% |
1st AHL |
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PIM / GAME
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16.5 |
16th AHL
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Tonight’s game will be the first at home for the Heat since concluding a five-game road trip on Monday that saw them post a record of 2-3-0. Prior to departing on that particular journey, they lost back-to-back match-ups with Grand Rapids, who the Checkers defeated twice last week.
With one of the AHL’s best goaltenders, Leland Irving, on NHL recall with the Calgary Flames since early December, the Heat have relied heavily on free-agent signing Danny Taylor. Taylor, who was released by Springfield on Nov. 29, has started 16 consecutive games for his new team, posting a 9-5-2 record with a .941 save percentage and 2.00 goals-against average.
As a team, the Heat have the second-best goals-against average in the AHL at 2.33. Their penalty kill is also excellent, ranking first in the league at 87.9 percent.
Offense has been a different story, with the Heat ranking 25th in goals per game (2.55). Despite the presence of Krys Kolanos, who ranks tied for seventh in AHL scoring with 39 points (18g, 21a) in 30 games, the Heat scored just five goals over the last four games of their road trip.
The Heat could potentially have former Checker Brett Carson in the lineup tonight, as the Flames put him on waivers Thursday afternoon. If he clears at noon on Friday, the Heat would then be able to assign him to Abbotsford. Carson, who the Flames claimed from Carolina on waivers just last season, dealt with a back injury in the preseason and has played a total of 11 games on conditioning stints with Abbotsford this season, recording 2 points (1g, 1a).
CHECKERS NOTES
 • GOALS GALORE: Tuesday’s win over Grand Rapids marked the first time this season but fifth time in the team’s two-year history that the Checkers have won a game despite giving up five or more goals. The most recent occurrence came during a 7-6 overtime win vs. Norfolk on Feb. 3, 2011, that doubles as the most goals the Checkers have allowed while still earning a win. The highest-scoring game in team history (both teams) came during a 9-5 win at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Jan. 23, 2011.
• TERRY STREAKS AGAIN: By scoring a goal for the third consecutive game against Grand Rapids on Jan. 17, Chris Terry now has the longest goal, assist (five games) and point (eight games) streaks of any Checkers player this season. Terry, the Checkers’ leading goal scorer from last season with 34, now has 4 goals in his last three games following a stretch in which he scored just once in 14 contests. Terry’s current three-game goal streak is the fifth of his career and just one shy of his personal-best, four-game streak set last season.
• DOLAN’S DEBUT: Rookie center Sean Dolan, a South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL) forward on a professional tryout with the Checkers, has 4 points (1g, 3a) in his first six AHL games. Dolan, was tied for South Carolina’s scoring lead upon joining the Checkers on Jan. 4 with 20 points (7g, 13a) in 32 games, scored his first AHL goal in his most recent game against Grand Rapids.
• A MAJOR PLUS: Rookie defenseman Justin Krueger posted a combined plus-7 rating over his last four games, putting him in first place on the team with a season total of plus-11. Krueger is one of six active Checkers players with a positive plus/minus rating, with Drayson Bowman (plus-6) in second place.
• CLOSE CALLS: The Checkers have played 23 games decided by just one goal this season, tying them for third-most in the league. Of the four other teams that have played just as many or more one-goal games this season, the Checkers have the highest point percentage in those contests with a record of 14-5-4 (.696).
STREAKS
• The Checkers have won each of their last two games (Jan. 15-17).
• Mike Murphy has started six consecutive games in goal (Jan. 7-17; 3-2-1).
• Bobby Sanguinetti has assists and points in each of his last three games (Jan. 12-17; 1g, 4a).
• Chris Terry has goals and points in each of his last three games (Jan. 12-17; 4g, 1a).
• Nicolas Blanchard has assists and points in each of his last three games (Jan. 12-17; 3a).
• Sean Dolan has points in each of his last two games (Jan. 15-17; 1g, 2a).
• Michal Jordan has assists and points in each of his last two games (Jan. 15-17; 2a)
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Charlotte
• Jan. 20 - (C) Cedric McNicoll assigned to Florida (ECHL) from Charlotte
• Jan. 18 – (RW) Evgenii Dadonov acquired from San Antonio
• Jan. 18 – (C) A.J. Jenks acquired from San Antonio
• Jan. 18 – (C) Jon Matsumoto traded to San Antonio
• Jan. 18 – (D) Ryan Donald recalled to Charlotte from Florida (ECHL)
• Jan. 18 – (C) Brett Sutter reassigned to Charlotte from Carolina (NHL)
• Jan. 18 – (C) Zac Dalpe recalled to Carolina (NHL) from Charlotte
• Jan. 15 – (G) John Muse recalled to Charlotte from Florida (ECHL)
Abbotsford
• Jan. 17 – (D) Brett Carson recalled to Calgary (NHL) from Abbotsford
• Jan. 14 – (D) Clay Wilson reassigned to Abbotsford from Calgary (NHL)
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