Preview: Monsters Play Checkers in Final Games of Road Trip
Cleveland Monsters at Charlotte Checkers
Friday, February 24 at 7:15pm est
and
Saturday, February 25 at 6pm est
Bojangles' Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina
Radio: 99x(99.1); 99x Online
Twitter: @CheckersHockey , #GoCheckers
@MonstersHockey , #CLEMonsters
Cleveland Monsters, 24-22-2-4, 54 points, 5th Central, 9th West
vs
Charlotte Checkers, 23-24-4-0, 50 points, 6th Central,12th West
It's getting to the point in the season where every game matters. Up until now, Charlotte hasn't been a threat to Cleveland. They have been sitting two to three spots behind the Monsters with what looked like no chance of surpassing them. Due to a series of unfortunate events, the Monsters must win both games against the Checkers this weekend. If the Checkers win both games in regulation, they will leap over the Monsters in the standings.
Luckily, the Monsters are starting to get healthy. Sonny Milano returned to the lineup on Wednesday where he shone rather bright on the penalty kill. He's slowly getting back into the swing of things. I look for him to be full speed by the time Saturday night rolls around.
Brett Gallant come back into the fold for the Monsters tonight. With Stanton suspended for the next two games, Gallant will be a welcome sight back on the ice.
The Checkers are virtually winless win trailing their opponent. So, the Monsters need to come out fast and dominate in the first period to swing the momentum in their favor for the whole game.
| Checkers | Monsters | |
| 8-2-2-0 | Leading After 1 | 8-2-0-2 |
| 15-1-2-0 | Leading After 2 | 12-2-0-2 |
| 9-2-1-0 | Tied After 1 | 11-8-2-1 |
| 6-2-0-0 | Tied After 2 | 9-5-2-0 |
| 6-20-1-0 | Trailing After 1 | 5-12-0-1 |
| 2-21-2-0 | Trailing After 2 | 3-15-0-2 |
| 17-8-3-0 | Outshooting Opponent | 11-9-1-2 |
| 6-15-1-0 | Outshot by Opponent | 13-13-1-1 |
Season Series
12/20/2016 – Checkers (1) @ Monsters (2) = W (OT) – recap
12/22/2016 – Checkers (2) @ Monsters (3) = W – recap
01/13/2017 – Monsters (2) @ Checkers (3) = L (SO) – recap
01/14/2017 – Monsters (3) @ Checkers (5) = L – recap
02/24/2017
02/25/2017
03/28/2017
03/30/2017
Stats Matchup
| Checkers | Monsters | |
| 2.51 (24) | GPG | 2.37 (29) |
| 2.75 (11) | GAPG | 2.65 (6) |
| 11.5% (30) | PP% | 14.5% (27) |
| 80.7% (21) | PK% | 84.5% (6) |
| Lucas Wallmark, 17 | G Leader | Oliver Bjorkstrand, 14 |
| Andrew Poturalski, 24 | A Leader | T.J. Tynan, 21 |
| Andrew Poturalski, 35 | P Leader | T.J.Tynan, 28 |
| Mitchell Heard, 53 | PIM Leader | Brett Gallant, 89 |
| 15-6-1-0 | Road/Home | 11-13-0-2 |
| 6-3-1-0 | Last 10 | 4-4-1-1 |
| 1-0-1-0 | Streaks | 0-2-0-0 |