Gameday Preview: Texas Stars v. Charlotte Checkers

Texas Stars
12-10-1-1, 26 pts
#4 Pacific Division
v.Charlotte Checkers
12-11-0-0, 24 pts
#6 Central Division
December 11th at 7:30 PM
Cedar Park Center, Cedar Park, TX

(Credit: Christina Shapiro/Texas Stars)
With nearly the same record as the Texas Stars, the Charlotte Checkers come into town holding the 6th place spot in the Central Division. As previously mentioned in this space, the Checkers are in a ridiculously competitive division right now. The current playoff cutoff line in the division is .595, which is a pretty crazy bar to set. It seems like it's destined to fall from such high heights, and the Checkers are surely gunning to jump over some teams to get there. They've missed the playoffs in each of the past two seasons.

Since falling to Texas on November 20th, the Checkers are 5-3. That includes a disappointing 3-3 homestand that saw Charlotte win both against Iowa (of course), lose both against Ontario (predictable) and split with middling San Jose (would have wanted two wins there).

On the Texas side, home games have been unkind to the Stars so far this season. With a 5-5-1 record, Texas is right at .500 on the season in points at home. Historically, the lowest the Stars have ended a season in points percentage at home is .513 in the non-playoff 2011-12 campaign. The Stars have plenty of time to shore up their home record, but it is definitely a sore point. You can throw all the cliches you want at it; they just need to find ways to win games. The team averages north of 4 goals per game and half the nights this season, that hasn't been good enough at the CPC. That obviously points to keeping pucks out of the net. The Stars allow 3.91 goals per game at home.

Like Dallas, it's high event hockey. However, it's not working out in their favor as often as their NHL parent club. With the three-in-three starting tonight, there will be some pretty immediate chances to reverse that trend.

Stars injury/call up report:
Troock (day-to-day)

Website: gocheckers.com
Checkers Social Media: Social Media
Coverage: Chasing Checkers
Twitter: @checkershockey
Twitter: @N_Niedzielski (former Texas Stars intern, now Checkers Communications)

Comments

  1. Screen the goalie!!! Pick up some rebounds or deflections. They don't all have to pretty, they just have to count. Just ask Jamie Benn.

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