The Checkers have only a few games left in the season and it is going to go down to the wire. The team is competing for the fourth spot in the pacific division. The way the AHL Playoff qualifications work is, the top four teams in each of the AHL’s four divisions make the post-season, with a possibility of a “crossover” where if the fifth-place teams in the Atlantic and Central Division have a higher point percentage than of the fourth place teams in the North and Pacific Division, then it would compete for the other division’s bracket. The Checkers have the fifth highest point percentage in the Central Division with no chance of catching any of the other teams ahead of them. But they currently have a slightly higher point percentage then the fourth place team in the Pacific Division, the San Jose Barracuda. With four games left and only .017 percentage points separating the two teams in the standings, every game is crucial.
The Checkers have two, two-game series to close out the season. The first team they will face is the Milwaukee Admirals. The Checkers are only 2-4-0 when playing Milwaukee this season and only one of those wins was in regulation. Expect a tough battle when the Checkers match up with the Admirals. The next team they will play is the Lake Erie Monsters, who the Checkers fared a little bit better against during season. The Checkers are 2-2-0 against Lake Erie but have not played them since early February before the trade deadline. It will not be easy by any means but right now the Checkers control their own destiny and just have to give it all they got the next four games. If they do that, then they could find themselves in the post-season for the first time since 2013.
Key Forwards
Derek Ryan: He has been the Checkers best/most consistent player the entire year and also took on the load of being the team’s captain early on in the season. He quickly became a presence in the locker room that the younger players looked up to. Without Derek Ryan this team would not be in the position to make the playoffs. The Checkers captain has fifty-five points to lead the team and he is also currently 12th place in all of the AHL in points. Unfortunately, while he was playing for the Hurricanes on Friday night against Montreal, Ryan left the game with an upper-body injury and did not return. He is still getting treatment up with the Hurricanes, and there is no other real news on his condition. It will be a big blow if the Checkers leading scorer and captain is unable to help with the final playoff push late in the season.
Brock McGinn: While he still might be trying to get back into the flow of the lineup, Brock McGinn is one of the Checkers most important forwards for this late playoff push. He is three games removed from being out of the line-up for nine straight games, after suffering an injury on March 10th. He played the majority of the first part of the season up with the Hurricanes, but when he was down with the Checkers he played most of the time at a point per game pace. Since coming back from injury McGinn has three goals in four games, so he is playing and contributing just the way the Checkers need him to for the late season stretch.
Sergey Tolchinsky: A slow start to the season has not stopped Sergey Tolchinsky from becoming one of the most consistent players on the team. In his first year in the AHL the young Russian has thirty-six points in sixty-eight games. That is more points than second round draft picks Phil Di Giuseppe and Brock McGinn each had last season in each’s first season in the AHL. He also has surpassed their point totals in less games than they played. The Checkers need Tolchinsky to keep up the consistent play that he has displayed during the second half of the season.
Key Defensemen
Trevor Carrick: He has been the Checkers top defenseman all season long. With four games left, he has surpassed his point total from last season by eight points. He was also named to the Central Division all-star team. Carrick had forty points in sixty-six games to lead the defensemen on the Checkers in points. He is also 9th in the entire league in defenseman scoring. He has played on the top pairing all season and has played starter minutes in almost every game.
Dennis Robertson: He might not put up the most outstanding numbers, but the thing that makes Dennis Robertson so key is that he is paired with Trevor Carrick on the first defensive unit. He will be out there with Carrick playing against each team’s best players so they Checkers need him to play steady and be a shutdown defender.
Key Goalie
John Muse: Since coming back to the Checkers at the deadline John Muse is 9-3-1. Muse has given the Checkers forwards and defensemen the comfort of having the feeling of a security blanket back in net. When Daniel Altshuller started to struggle after December, it started to affect the play of everyone else on the team. The defense was starting to turn the puck over more when trying to clear puck out of the zone, and it was leading to opponents getting easy scoring chances in high scoring areas and the offense was struggling to put the puck in the back of the net. The whole team was out of whack, and then John Muse came in and calmed everyone down with his consistent goaltending that even earned him player of the week once. Muse will have to play well for the Checkers to have a chance to taste the post-season.