The Checkers continued their recent poor play this week starting on Friday (Feb. 5) against Lake Erie losing 1-0. They would lose to Lake Erie again the next day on Saturday (Feb. 6) 4-1 and to San Antonio on Monday (Feb. 8) by a score of 5-2.
Three stars of the week
Brody Sutter showed his true grit as he threw down the gloves and tried to spark some energy into his slumping teammates on Saturday night. Sutter showed he had no quit in that game and he showed he had no quit in the Monday night game, when he tipped in the Checkers second goal with a little under four minutes left in the game. Brock McGinn is still putting up points at the most consistent rate on the team with twenty-five points in twenty-nine games. He looks confident when he has the puck on his stick from all the NHL experience he has had so far this season and it is translating to an almost point per game player in the AHL. Sergey Tolchinsky has popped back up again in the three stars again after seeming like he was absent from the team for a couple of weeks. He had a highlight reel goal on Saturday night, where he scored while falling down to the ice. The goal ended up being the Checkers only one for that game. Tolchinsky also had multiple plays that he was able to prolong and create scoring chances because of his crafty stick-handling.
Who’s Hot
Trevor Carrick and Keegan Lowe both had an assist each in the teams losing effort on Monday night. Ethan Werek notched an assist on Sergey Tolchinsky’s goal on Saturday and created multiple scoring chances for himself by taking shots on odd man rushes.
Who’s Not
The whole Checkers team is not very hot at the moment. The defense is struggling to stop the onslaught of shots; teams are getting on goaltender Daniel Altshuller and as a result Altshuller has let some uncharacteristically shaky goals in possibly due to frustration from the volume of shots that he is seeing. On the offensive end the team is getting shots but unlike a few weeks earlier when the team was on their point streak, the shots are not finding the back of the net. The team shouldn’t let the current slump get to them and allow become frustrating. The Checkers are still in a good place in the standings and just need to continue on playing like they have been the majority of the year and not do anything drastic just because of how they have played lately.
Injury and roster notes
Justin Shugg, Danny Biega, and Mike Cornell all missed games due to injury. The Checkers signed defensemen Sean Escobedo on Monday (Feb. 8) to a player tryout from the Greenville Swamp Rabbits to try to reinforce the blue line. The Carolina Hurricanes sent Ryan Murphy down to Charlotte on Monday (Feb. 8).
Offensive lines as of now
First line: Brock McGinn-Derek Ryan-Ethan Werek
Second line: Zach Boychuk-T.J. Hensick- Sergey Tolchinsky
Third line: Brendan Woods-Brody Sutter-Patrick Brown
Fourth line: Kyle Hagel-David Wohlberg-Erik Karlsson
Defensive Pairings as of now
First pairing: Rasmus Rissanen-Tyler Ganly
Second pairing: Trevor Carrick-Keegan Lowe
Third pairing: Jake Chelios-Sean Escobedo
