Not too long ago, the Washington Capitals were stunned by the Carolina Hurricanes. Right now in the Calder Cup playoffs, their Charlotte Checkers lead the Hershey Bears 2-0.
It’s like the young kids learned a thing or two. Whatever worked for the Carolina Hurricanes against the
Washington Capitals, the Charlotte Checkers have picked up on that in the AHL edition of this playoff rematch. Charlotte outscored the Hershey Bears a combined 11-4 in the first two games of the Atlantic Division Finals
The series began on Friday May 3 at Bojangles’ Coliseum in Charlotte where the Checkers dominated in a 4-1 victory. All four Checkers goals came in the contest’s first 11:32.
The Bears lone goal came shortly after at 15:38 when Chris McCarthy cashed in a rebound from a shot by Connor Hobbs. Another positive for the Bears was their penalty kill, which killed off all five penalties including three in the second period.
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Things didn’t get easier for the Bears and after Game 2 on Saturday are heading back up to Pennsylvania staring at an 0-2 series hole. Game 2’s final was 7-3 in favor of the team in the Tar Heel state.
Just like Game 1, the Checkers struck first in Game 2. The difference was after their first goal, the Bears responded late in the first period. That tying goal came on the power play from Jayson Megna for his third goal of the playoffs at 17:05.
Dennis Robertson was the culprit of the Bears power play happening when he gave an illegal check to the head of Hershey forward Beck Malenstyn at 14:26. He was assessed a match penalty.
In the second, the Checkers added two unanswered goals to go up 3-1 before Ryan Sproul closed the deficit to one at 15:51. Sproul’s tally came on a rebound off a scoring chance from Megna. It was his third goal of the playoffs.
Charlotte responded with three goals in the third period before Hershey got one back at 16:32 with Riley Barber’s third goal of the spring off a pass from Garrett Pilon.
The Checkers rounded out the scoring with one more goal to complete the weekend. Game 2 was a frustrating affair for Ilya Smsonov where he stopped 26 of the 33 shots he faced, allowing seven goals. Vitek Vanecek got the start the night before in Game 1 where he stopped 34 shots in the defeat.
The series shifts to Hershey with Game 3 coming on Tuesday night. The Bears look to get on the board in front of their Giant Center faithful. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.