Charlotte Checkers: Drop First Calder Cup Final Game

The Charlotte Checkers drop their first franchise Calder Cup Final game, as they lose Game 1 in overtime despite taking a controlling 3-1 lead earlier in the game. The Chicago Wolves set the tone early in the series with a comeback win.

Professional Playoff Hockey is still happening in the great hockey state of North Carolina. That is something that cannot be said in Canada this month. Let that sink in. Enjoy it. Savor it. The Carolina Hurricanes may not be in the playoffs no longer, but their AHL affiliate is in the fight of their lives seeking their very first Calder Cup!

Their opponent for this historic series is the Chicago Timberwolves. This is only their second meeting in the playoffs. Chicago took the first back in 2017 to knock the Checkers out of the Calder Cup playoffs in the first round. Now is the time to get a little payback on the way to history. But the Checker’s night didn’t end as planned.

The Checkers started off strong, with a powerplay goal to set the tone early from Trevor Carrick. The Wolves would tie it with a nice deflection. Charlotte’s top forwards in Martin Necas and Andrew Poturalski scored to give the Checkers a comfortable lead in the first period.

The struggles came in the second period when the Checkers’ aggressive forecheck and pressure started to fade, as the Wolves started to take advantage of opportunities. Zac Leslie and Zach Whitecloud scored for the Wolves to get them back in this game, as the Wolves led shots on goal 11-7.

The Checkers dominated shots on goal in the 3rd period, with a 17-7 edge, although the Wolves started a strong forecheck in the middle of the period which saw them choke the endurance and suffocate the Charlotte defenders in their own zone, squeezing the momentum the Checkers created early in the third period.

The third went goalless because of stellar performance with Alex Nedeljkovic staying on edge, forcing overtime.

Stefan Matteau would end it all 5:30 into the overtime period between the Charlotte Checkers and Chicago Wolves. This is the third game one of the Calder Cup Playoffs that the Wolves take.

The Checkers will need to look to win Game 2 or face the tall task of having an excellent road trip, where they will be on the road for three games in a row after finishing Game 2 in Charlotte. The Checkers may want to look to Dustin Tokarski, who in all of his three starts, has won all three, he also leads the American Hockey League goals against average at 0.77 and a .974% save percentage.

The Checkers are third in both the powerplay and penalty-kill out of all the teams who played in the Calder Cup Playoffs, with a 20.9% success on the powerplay and 88.4% on the penalty-kill, while having the league most four shorthanded goals. The shorthanded goals were deadly for the Marlies in the Conference Finals, vacuuming all the energy and momentum.

There is little time to recuperate for the Checkers, they’ll need to bounce back in back-to-back games, as they have Game 2 on Sunday, June 2nd at 06:00 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time.

Question for Cardiac Cane Readers: Do the Charlotte Checkers bounce back in Game 2?