Checkers Check-in: Week of March 15th

Charlotte's 2nd multi-win week in row keeps the team heading in a positive direction as March rolls on

Image courtesy of Charlottecheckers.com

The John Leonard show continued last Saturday at Bojangles Coliseum

John Leonard proved he was ready for an International Women's Day tilt that welcomed the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to the Biscuit.

Leonard scored twice, once in the first period of off a Justin Sourdif rebound and another in the second after working with Rasmus Asplund on a beautiful give and go beating Phantoms goaltender Cal Petersen.

Lehigh Valley would respond in the third period after Cooper Black tried to poke check the puck further out of the Charlotte crease and in the process put himself out of position to affect an incoming shot from the Phantoms Zayde Wisdom. The puck found the back of the net and that would cut the Checker lead to 2-1 less than 10 minutes to go in hockey game.

Oliver Okuliar would add some much-needed insurance with less than 5 minutes to go, Okuliar quickly entered the Phantoms zone and beat Petersen over the shoulder from the high slot making it 3-1 Charlotte.

Will Lockwood's empty net goal with 37 seconds sealed a 4-1 Charlotte victory.

Cooper Black saved 17 out of 18 Lehigh Valley shots.

One of the only downsides to the evening came when Justin Sourdif exited the game in the 3rd period after delivering a check to a Lehigh Valley player, he didn't return.

Following the win the Checkers had 68 points and due to a tie between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Providence, the Checkers were still technically in 4th place in the Atlantic division at 31-16-3-3.

QUOTES AND NOTES VIA CHARLOTTECHECKERS.COM

QUOTES:

Coach Geordie Kinnear on the game:

I thought the first two periods were really good. We were making plays; we were skating and you saw our identity. In the third period we stopped skating and kind of made it interesting at the end, but I really liked the first two periods.

Kinnear on the power play scoring another goal:

Confidence is a wonderful thing. When you do things right, you’re going to get rewarded at the right time. They made a play, but if you look at it, they were skating on the power-play breakout which is a big part of how we play and how we do our special teams. When you skate, good things happen.

Kinnear on John Leonard:

Loves to score, does it the right way and has really improved over time. When his legs are moving, he’s a real dynamic player. We’re very fortunate to have him. He just loves the game and has such a passion for us. I’ll repeat myself; he loves to score goals.

Kinnear on a third-period injury to Justin Sourdif:

I don’t have an update. I haven’t really been in there to be honest, but a good job by the group to rally around and get the job done in the third when we had a short bench.

John Leonard on getting an early lead:

I think we came out good. Obviously, we want to score that first goal. (Sourdif) made a good play at the net and I was able to kind of pick up the garbage there. You want to have a lead after the first, and we were able to do that.

Leonard on limiting shots against:

I think we did a good job in the first two periods of keeping everything to the outside, and Coop made some big saves when we needed it. In the third, obviously you know they’re going to come out with a push down 2-0, and I thought they did a better job than us to start that period off, but at the end of the day we were able to close it out.

Leonard on his line with Rasmus Asplund and Will Lockwood:

Playing with Aspy is awesome, same with Locker. Locker is one of the hardest-working guys I know, and he can make some really good plays as well. Aspy is so smart with the puck and good on draws. They both do all the little things really easily, and it’s really easy and fun to play with those guys.

Leonard on the power play:

I think we just needed to take a step back. Obviously, it’s a long year and you might not be perfect the whole season, but you’ve got to find ways to keep things simple, watch video, slow things down and just kind of realize the plays that are there.

NOTES:

-This was Leonard’s fourth multi-goal game of the season. He is one of just six AHL players with at least 25 goals. His previous career high was 17.

-Asplund has 15 points (5g, 10a) in his last 17 games.

-After scoring just one power-play goal in February (1-for-26), the Checkers have three power-play goals in March (3-for-17).

-The Checkers allowed fewer than 23 shots in each of their last nine games. They lead the AHL with an average of 22.9 shots allowed per game.

-The Checkers are 2-1-0 against Lehigh Valley in the season series that concludes tomorrow.

-Sourdif has four points (2g, 2a) in his last three games.

-Tobias Bjornfot has assists in consecutive games (2a).

All quotes and notes above are via the Charlottecheckers.com and can be found here:

https://charlottecheckers.com/articles/john-leonard-s-two-goals-lead-checkers-past-lehigh-valley

A TOUGH PEPPER TO SWALLOW SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT THE BISCUIT

The Checkers were celebrating Gaston County Day by wearing their Gastonia Ghost Peppers jerseys. A late penalty would seal Charlotte's fate.

Lehigh Valley opened the scoring late in the first period after Jacob Gaucher's 20th goal of the season beat Charlotte goaltender Ken Appleby blocker side.

The Checkers would respond in the 2nd period after Trevor Carrick blasted his 10th of the year past Phantoms netminder Alexei Kolosov to make it a 1-1 hockey game with 13:34 remaining in the second period.

While still in the middle frame, the Phantoms would take the lead back on a bad change committed by Charlotte, Brendan Furry converted and that made it 2-1 Lehigh Valley with less than 6 minutes left in the 2nd period.

35 seconds into the third period Jesse Puljujarvi scored his first goal as a Charlotte Checker while being at the right place at the right time. C.J. Smith's pass deflected of off Puljujarvi's skate and into the net tying the game at 2.

The game remained deadlocked until the late in the 3rd period. With less than two minutes remaining an unfortunate delay of game penalty for flipping the puck over the boards allowed the Phantoms to go on the man advantage. Anthony Richard made Charlotte pay with 29 seconds to play, his blast gave Lehigh Valley the lead and eventually the 3-2 victory.

Incredibly tough break for the Checkers who were less than a minute from gaining at least a point in the standings, not to mention, Charlotte came in with the AHL's best penalty kill at 87% on the year including killing the 3 other penalties on the afternoon.

A 6-game road trip was waiting for the Checkers.

QUOTES AND NOTES VIA CHARLOTTECHECKERS.COM

QUOTES:

Coach Geordie Kinnear on the game:

I thought it was definitely a grind. If you look at our schedule, it’s been a grind. We did a good job in the third period of embracing what kind of a grind it was going to be. We scored the goal, but too many penalties ended up biting us in the end. You can only take so many penalties before it’s going to cost you, and it cost us tonight.

Kinnear on the physical nature of the game:

Obviously, they (Lehigh Valley) didn’t like their game yesterday and they wanted to respond. We know that. It’s happened a hundred times in here on back-to-back nights. I thought the guys actually did a good job of embracing the type of game. Actually, a noon-hour game with the daylight savings. I thought they did a good job embracing. It wasn’t always going to be pretty, but I thought they did a good job until obviously we end up in the penalty box. We have to learn not to take those types of penalties. It’s not just that one, it’s the same ones over and over again. We’re going to learn that if you want to play winning hockey in the end. That’s not winning hockey.

Kinnear on a quick turnaround before starting a six-game road trip:

We’ve got to get healthy too. You look at the lineup, you lose Patty Giles, and we had a lot of kills and using too many guys there. We have to get healthy, but also, we look at it as an opportunity for some guys. You look at Riley Bezeau, he hasn’t played a lot, he played the last three games and obviously had a big fight there. A one-on-one battle, which was great. We’re going to need more guys to step up and use our depth.

NOTES

-The game-worn Ghost Peppers jerseys raised $41,468. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Gaston County Museum

-Carrick hit the 40-point mark for the third consecutive season and for the sixth time in his career. He is tied for fifth among AHL defensemen in scoring

-Asplund has four points (1g, 3a) over the course of a three-game point streak

-Kyle Criscuolo played his 500th professional game

-The Checkers were out-shot (26-23) for the first time since Jan. 22, ending a run of 16 consecutive games in which they took more shots than their opponent

-The Checkers did not receive a power play for the second time this season

-The Checkers finished their season series with Lehigh Valley at 2-2-0

All quotes and notes are via the Charlotte Checkers and can be found here:

https://charlottecheckers.com/articles/phantoms-top-checkers-on-late-power-play-goal

On Tuesday, Charlotte recalled Dennis Cesana from the Savannah Ghost Pirates.

Cesana is second on the Ghost Pirates with 14 goals and 36 assists in 54 games.

He is the second-highest scoring defenseman in the ECHL, and his 36 assists rank him 4th among league defenseman.

WILD WEDNESDAY IN UPSTATE NEW YORK

The first period Wednesday night opened the door to not only a new hockey game but a few personal firsts for a member of both the Amerks and Checkers. One too many Charlotte offensive zone turnovers allowed Rochester to open the scoring just 1:07 into the hockey game as Erik Brannstrom banged home his 1st goal as a member of the Americans beating Kaapo Kahkonen who was making his first start as a Checker.

About half way through the first period C.J. Smith scored his 2nd goal as a Charlotte Checker beating Rochester goalie Devon Levi to tie the game at one goal apiece. Mike Benning and Tobias Bjornfot were credited with the assists on Smith's goal which gave C.J. points in two straight games.

John Leonard would put Charlotte ahead 2-1 on the power play 4:21 into the second period beating Levi high and blocker side. The lead wouldn't last for long though as Rochester would even the score with about 6 minutes left in the middle frame.

After a litter of penalties by both teams, Amerks Kale Clague scored Rochester's 2nd goal by defenseman on the evening beating Kahkonen due to a ton of traffic in front of the net blocker side.

Ben Steeves would score another Checkers power play goal, the team's first multi power play scoring output since January 25th, 8 minutes into the 3rd period giving Charlotte a 3-2 advantage after taking a nifty pass from Oliver Okuliar. Shortly after the Steeves eventual game winner, Rochester's Lukas Rousek nearly tied it after being awarded a penalty shot following being hauled down. His attempt clanked off the post and the game remained a one goal Charlotte lead.

The Checkers would add yet another goal by John Leonard, his 27th on the year with less than two minutes remaining, the empty net goal would put Charlotte up 4-2.

Rochester's push to tie the game came up short despite defenseman's Erik Brannstrom's one timer, which found the back of the net and made it 4-3 with 1:13 to play.

The Checkers would hold on to earn their 32nd win of the season.

STATS AND STUFF:

All of Rochester's goals were scored by defenseman

2 goals and an assist for John Leonard who is tied for 2nd in the AHL in lamp lighters.

2 assists for Tobias Bjornfot, his 2nd two helper game of the season

Notes via Charlottecheckers.com

-The Checkers are 2-1-0-0 against Rochester this season

-Charlotte has a three-game road points streak

-Kaapo Kahkonen's first start in a Charlotte sweater earned him his first Checkers win

-This was the 10th time this season that the Checkers have scored multiple power-play goals

-The Checkers faced their fifth penalty shot of the season and Kahkonen earned their third denial

-Steeves’ goal was his first since Jan. 3

-Leonard has scored two goals in two of his last three games

-Rasmus Asplund has assists in four consecutive games

Notes listed above are courtesy of the Charlotte Checkers and can be found here:

https://charlottecheckers.com/articles/checkers%E2%80%99-power-play-fuels-win-against-amerks

UP NEXT:

The 6-game road swing continues as the Checkers head north of the border to take on the Toronto Marlies on Saturday at 1:30 PM and Sunday at 4 PM, both games are eastern standard time.