Checkers 4-0-0 for first time in team’s 9 AHL seasons. Here’s how they’ve done it.

The Charlotte Checkers seem to be at their best when the sides are not even.

The unbeaten Checkers lead the American Hockey League in converting their power-play opportunities, and they’re tied for the lead in short-handed goals.

Charlotte had goals of both varieties over the weekend, when they beat the Utica Comets 4-3 Friday and trounced the Syracuse Crunch 4-1 Saturday.

The Checkers, whose four victories this season all came on the road, had a short-handed goal in each of the weekend games and scored twice on the power play Saturday.

Special teams play is a big deal for coach Mike Vellucci, and his squad has converted on six of 15 opportunities with a skater advantage. That 40 percent conversion rate is tops among the AHL’s 31 teams.

And Charlotte’s three short-handed goals has them tied with defending AHL champion Toronto for first place in that category.

The Checkers are 4-0-0 for the first time in the franchise’s nine seasons in the AHL, and they were dominant enough Saturday night for Syracuse coach Ben Groulx to tell Syracuse.com, “Charlotte’s a good team. For long minutes tonight, I thought they were men and we were boys.”

Here’s a look at the Checkers’ last week, and the week ahead:

Friday: Charlotte had a back-and-forth game in Utica but won 4-3 when Dennis Robertson scored with less than two minutes to play. The Checkers rallied from a 2-0 deficit.

Saturday: Charlotte ruined Syracuse’s celebration of its 25th year in the American Hockey League, winning easily 4-1. The Checkers got their opening goal from Julien Gauthier in the first five minutes. Janne Kuokkanen and Clark Bishop added power-play goals, and Patrick Brown scored on a short-handed situation, giving Charlotte a 4-0 lead after two periods. Goalkeeper Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 34 of 35 Syracuse shots.

Week ahead: Charlotte finally has its home opener Friday, facing the Hershey Bears at 7 p.m. at Bojangles Coliseum. The teams meet again at 6 p.m. Saturday, and then the Checkers are back on the road again.

Standings: The Checkers have eight points, one more than second-place Hartford in the AHL’s Atlantic Division.