Game 70: Oklahoma City Barons at Charlotte Checkers

Puck Drop: Thursday, 7 p.m.

TV/Radio info: AHL Live / Online

Records: Checkers (28-35-5-1), Barons (37-23-5-3)

The Checkers kicked off their longest and last homestand of the season on a sour note this past weekend, dropping a pair of games to the Lake Erie Monsters. The loss Sunday eliminated the Checkers from American Hockey League playoff contention. They will look to finish the season on a high note starting with games Thursday and Friday against Oklahoma City.

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Notes: Charlotte finished March with a 7-6 record, making it the first month this season in which it finished with a winning record. … With five goals in his past five games, Checkers center Brody Sutter has doubled his output from the first 36 games of the season. He has seven points during his recent run. … Checkers goalie Drew MacIntyre ranks third in the AHL with 2,690 minutes played and is second with 1,336 saves. His next start for Charlotte will tie the franchise record for single-season games played by a goaltender (48 by Justin Pogge in 2010-11). … Defenseman Josh Wesley, son of Hurricanes legend Glen, has been skating with the Checkers since his season with the Ontario Hockey League’s Plymouth Whalers came to an end last week. It's unknown if Wesley, 18, will play against the Barons. The Hurricanes selected Wesley – a product of the Junior Hurricanes development program – in the fourth round (96th) in the 2014 NHL draft. ... The Barons enter Thursday winless in their last seven games. ... This is the 11th of 12 meetings between the two clubs this season. The Barons have taken seven of the first 10 matchups. ... The Checkers officially announced Kyle Hagel as their "Man of the Year" award winner on Thursday. The award recognizes the player from each team who makes the greatest commitment to charitable organizations and his community. In five full AHL seasons (with five different clubs), Hagel has won the award five times. That pretty much says all you need to know about the kind of guy he is off the ice...

Checkers lines: 

Zach Boychuk-Brody Sutter-Chad LaRose
Brock McGinn-Brendan Woods-Carter Sandlak
Phil Di Giuseppe-Ben Holmstrom-Justin Shugg
Kyle Hagel-Patrick Brown-Jared Staal

Trevor Carrick-Brett Pesce
Dennis Robertson-Keegan Lowe
Austin Levi-Beau Schmitz

Drew MacIntyre
John Muse
Rasmus Tirronen

Healthy scratches: Alex Aleardi, Sean Dolan, Mike Cornell, Josh Wesley

Injured/out: Greg Nemisz (knee)