3 Checkers’ trends, and how they played out last week

A couple of trends are developing in the Charlotte Checkers’ season, and all of them were on display during the past week.

▪  The Checkers are capable of scoring lots of goals, in a hurry.

▪  There have been, and probably will continue to be, plenty of roster changes.

▪  More often than not, Charlotte wins.

The Checkers swept their two road games last week, scoring plenty of goals and with plenty of drama.

In Saturday night’s 5-4 victory at Springfield, Charlotte was trailing 4-2 with one minute to play – but scored two goals in the final 56 seconds and then won in overtime.

In Friday’s 7-4 romp at Hartford, the Checkers scored two goals in the closing minutes of each period.

The result is a three-game victory streak, with Charlotte sitting comfortably in first place in the American Hockey League’s Atlantic Division. And the Checkers, who have played a staggering 18 of their first 24 games on the road, now come home for six games at Bojangles Coliseum.

Oh … about the roster changes.

Goalkeeper Alex Nedeljkovic, the AHL’s leader in victories, finally got a call-up last week to the National Hockey League. The Carolina Hurricanes had sent goalie Scott Darling to Charlotte a week earlier, and goalkeeper Curtis McElhinney was injured.

So the Hurricanes summoned Nedeljkovic and forward Saku Maenalanen to help them with a West Coast trip that ended Saturday night. Nedeljkovic didn’t get to play, but Maenalanen saw action in one game. Both players were returned to Charlotte on Sunday.

In addition, the Checkers called up forwards Zach Nastasiak and Steven Lorentz from the Florida Everblades of the ECHL.

The Hurricanes and their two minor league affiliates – Charlotte and Florida – have been involved in a number of player moves in recent weeks.

Here is how the Checkers fared last week, with a look ahead:

Friday: Trailing 3-1 to Hartford, the Checkers tied it with two Janne Kuokkanen goals in the last 26 seconds of the first period. They scored two more in the final minutes of the second period and added another two goals in the closing minute of the third. Nicolas Roy and Martin Necas each had four points in the 7-4 victory.

Saturday: Charlotte trailed 3-2 to Springfield late in the third period and pulled goalkeeper Jeremy Helvig for an extra attacker. The Thunderbirds scored, making it 4-2. The Checkers kept Helvig on the bench and cut the margin to 4-3 on a Jake Bean goal with 56 seconds left. Then they tied it with 32 seconds left on an Andrew Poturalski tally.

The game-winner came 3:29 into overtime on a Trevor Carrick wrist shot.

What’s ahead: Charlotte hosts the Hartford Wolf Pack at 7 p.m. Thursday and 6 p.m. Saturday. Then they host the Utica Comets at 1 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. on Dec. 18. The home stand finishes with home games Dec. 21 and 22 against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. All six games will be at Bojangles Coliseum.