Charlotte has lost five of its past six games, all on home ice

It was a rough weekend in the Queen City for the Charlotte Checkers.

Charlotte hosted the Atlantic Division leading Hershey Bears for a two-game weekend set, and it would be the visiting team coming away with all four points.

Checkers goaltenders Spencer Knight and Ludovic Waeber each received a start in net, and both would end up surrendering four goals.

Knight finished with 20 saves in Friday’s 4-2 loss to Hershey while Waeber stopped 16 Bears shots en route to a 5-2 defeat on Saturday.

Rookie Mackie Samoskevich picked up a goal and an assist during the two games, giving him 3 goals and 5 points over his past six outings.

It was the defenseman who picked up the offensive slack on Saturday, as both Lucas Carlsson and Uvis Balinskis tickled the twine for Charlotte.

For Balinskis, it was his first game with the Checkers after being loaned to Charlotte by the NHL's Florida Panthers last week.

Carlsson is having another impressive season patrolling the Checkers blueline, now up to 7 goals and 16 points over his past 12 games.

Charlotte has now dropped five of its past six games, all at home, since returning from an extended road trip in California. 

"I think there's a lot of really good things and recipies," Checkers Head Coach Geordie Kinnear told the media following Saturday's loss. "We have to score some big-time goals at opportunistic times."

Perhaps some time away from home will be good for Charlotte. They’ve got a doozie of a road trip coming up over the next 10 days.

Next weekend they’ll be in Rochester on Friday, Lehigh Valley on Saturday and Hershey on Sunday before stopping back in Lehigh Valley again the following Wednesday. 

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