Carolina Love: Florida Panthers, Charlotte Checkers Both in ECF

Both the Florida Panthers and Charlotte Checkers are in the Eastern Conference finals of their respective leagues after Charlotte shocked the two-time defending AHL champion Hershey Bears 6-3 on Wednesday night.

Not only did the Checkers beat the Bears on home ice — but they pulled off the three-game sweep by rallying from a 2-0 deficit in the second period.

This is Charlotte’s first trip to the Eastern Conference finals since winning the Calder Cup as Carolina’s AHL affiliate in 2019.

The Checkers will play the winner of the series between the Laval (Canadiens) Rocket and Rochester (Sabres) Americans.

The Florida Panthers have never had an AHL affiliate play for the Calder Cup much less win it.

After winning the first two games of the series in Charlotte, the Checkers trailed Hershey — the Capitals’ AHL affiliate — by a pair of goals early in the second period.

Only Charlotte scored five unanswered goals to take control.

Kaapo Kahkonen, acquired from Winnipeg at the trade deadline for Chris Driedger, had another terrific game with 23 saves.

“If you look at the first period, obviously you know what you’re going to get from Hershey,’’ coach Geordie Kinnear said. “The defending champs and in this building, it was electric. … in the second period we found our game.”

Brett Chorske got the Checkers going at 3:30 of the second period, making it 2-1 by finishing off a tic-tac-toe from Will Lockwood and Jesse Puljujarvi.

Just 3 minutes later, defenseman Mike Benning turned went coast-to-coast and tied the score at 2.

Charlotte got its first lead of the night at 11:14 of the second when John Leonard beat Hunter Shepard from the slot.

The Checkers, who have won three straight playoff road games and eight consecutive road games overall, kept things rolling in the third, getting goals from Lockwood, Kyle Criscuolo, and Game 2 hero Rasmus Asplund.

“Obviously everyone’s pretty fired up in there.’’ Leonard said. “To do that in this building, obviously it’s a very tough place to play and a really fun place to play, honestly.

“I think we fed off that energy, and in that second period it felt like, for us, that we took over that game. When (Lockwood) scored in the third, it felt like we were in a pretty good spot.”

2025 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: GAME 2

FLORIDA PANTHERS @ CAROLINA HURRICANES

Panthers lead Best-of-7 Series 1-0

• When: Thursday, 8 p.m. 
• Where: Lenovo Center; Raleigh, N.C. 
• National TV: TNT/truTV
• National Streaming: Max
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Series Schedule (all games on TNT/tru, 8 p.m.) — Game 1: Florida 5, Carolina 2; Game 2: Thursday @Carolina; Game 3: Saturday @Florida; Game 4: Monday, May 26 @Florida; Game 5*: Wednesday, May 28 @Carolina; Game 6*: Friday, May 30 @Florida; Game 7*: Sunday, June 1 @Carolina
• This Regular Season (Panthers Won 2-1) — At Florida:Panthers 6, Hurricanes 0 (Nov.30); Hurricanes 3, Panthers 1 (Jan. 2). At Carolina:  Panthers 6, Hurricanes 3 (Nov. 29).
• How They Got Here: Carolina d. New Jersey (5), Washington (5); Florida d. Tampa Bay (5), Toronto (7).
• All-Time Regular Season Series: Carolina/Hartford leads 74-49-10, 11 ties
• Postseason History: Florida 1-0 (2023 ECF in 4)