Charlotte rode a dominant second period to a 6-3 victory over Hershey on Wednesday night, completing a sweep of the Atlantic Division Finals and ending the Bears’ two-year reign as American Hockey League champions.
The Checkers will meet either Laval or Rochester for the Eastern Conference championship.
Down 2-0, Charlotte scored three times while outshooting Hershey by a 20-2 margin in the middle frame. They tacked on two more goals early in the third and got an empty-net goal from Rasmus Asplund – his third goal of the series – to finish off the series.
Asplund, Brett Chorske, Will Lockwood and Kyle Criscuolo all recorded a goal and an assist, and John Leonard gave Charlotte the lead for good with his third goal of the postseason.
Bogdan Trineyev and Ivan Miroshnichenko notched a goal and an assist each for the Bears, who fell short in their bid to become just the second team in AHL history to win three consecutive Calder Cups.
Kaapo Kähkönen (6-2) made 23 saves for Charlotte, while Hunter Shepard (2-5) stopped 32 shots for Hershey.
The Checkers will be playing in the conference finals for the third time. They lost to Binghamton in 2011, and they defeated Toronto in 2019 on their way to winning the Calder Cup.
(Charlotte wins series, 3-0)
Game 1 – Fri., May 16 – CHARLOTTE 3, Hershey 2
Game 2 – Sat., May 17 – CHARLOTTE 2, Hershey 1 (OT)
Game 3 – Wed., May 21 – Charlotte at Hershey, 7:00
