Julien Gauthier has Checkers firing on all cylinders again

The Charlotte Checkers are looking more and more like an American Hockey League playoff team, and much of the fuel for the club’s surge after a slow start has been provided by Julien Gauthier. The 22 year old, a first-round draft pick of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes in 2016, leads the Checkers in scoring and is among the AHL’s leaders in goals and power-play goals.

Despite a stint earlier this season with the Hurricanes, Gauthier, a winger, has scored 14 goals — far and away the best on the Charlotte roster.

His scoring has helped the Checkers win seven of nine games since Dec. 7, including a three-game winning streak entering Saturday night’s contest in Providence.

After languishing near the bottom of the AHL’s Atlantic Division in October and November, the Checkers are sixth — but only four points out of the fourth-place playoff spot. They have played four fewer games than fifth-place Springfield and two fewer than fourth-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Gauthier seems to be filling the role played last year by Andrew Poturalski, who went on to win Calder Cup most valuable player honors as the Checkers won the AHL championship.

Gauthier, of Pointe-aux-Trembles, Quebec, is the son of a body-builder and is 6-4, 225 pounds. The hockey website EliteProspects describes Gauthier as “an explosive power forward who boasts an elite-level skill package.”

His power-play goal early in the second period last Saturday provided the winning tally in Charlotte’s 5-1 triumph at Cleveland.

And about Poturalski

You might remember that the Checkers’ 2018-19 season star left via free agency in the offseason, signing with the Anaheim Ducks. He was assigned to San Diego of the AHL and scored a goal and two assists in his first three games. But he suffered a broken wrist in late October and is not expected back until late January.

Last week’s games

The Checkers swept a pair of contests in Cleveland, beating the Monsters 5-1 Saturday and 3-1 Monday. In Saturday’s games, Charlotte goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic (a Cleveland-area native) had 18 saves, and the Checkers outshot Cleveland 42-19.

Former Cleveland goalie Anton Forsberg was in the nets for the Checkers on Monday, making 27 saves against the Monsters. Oliwer Kaski scored the winning goal midway in the third period. Kaski has two goals and two assists in six games since being acquired from the Detroit organization.

Week ahead

The Checkers continue a lengthy road trip, playing Saturday night (7:05 p.m.) and Sunday (3:05 p.m.) in Providence. Then they visit Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Wednesday (7:05), Hartford on Friday (7:15) and Bridgeport Sound on Saturday (7).

Charlotte returns home Jan. 14, hosting Hershey in the opener of a six-game home stand.

Month-by-month

A sign of the Checkers’ surge … after going 4-4 in October (with one shootout loss), Charlotte fell to 4-8 in November (with three overtime losses). The Checkers rebounded to 8-4 in December.

This story was originally published January 3, 2020 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Julien Gauthier has Checkers firing on all cylinders again."