CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theahl.com) … Mike Benning scored 4:02 into overtime to give the Charlotte Checkers a critical 3-2 win over the Abbotsford Canucks in Game 2 of the 2025 Calder Cup Finals on Sunday afternoon.
Tied at one game apiece, the best-of-seven series now shifts to Abbotsford for Game 3 on Tuesday evening (10 ET/7 PT, AHLTV on FloHockey).
Late on a Checkers power play, Justin Sourdif kept the puck in at the blue line and sent a cross-ice pace to Benning, who stepped into the left-wing circle and snapped a shot past Artūrs Šilovs to give Charlotte its second win in four trips to OT this postseason.
The rest of the scoring in Game 2 all came in the opening period. John Leonard knocked in a back-door pass from Rasmus Asplund to put the Checkers on the board first at 3:13, but the Canucks responded with a goal from Sammy Blais at 4:15.
Wilmer Skoog gave Charlotte the lead back at 11:14 before Abbotsford’s Linus Karlsson scored his league-leading 10th playoff goal at 17:38.
The rest of regulation was scoreless, although Charlotte owned a 23-6 advantage in shots on goal during the second and third periods. Final shots in the game were 42-13 in favor of the Checkers.
Šilovs (13-6) made 39 saves on the night following his 51-save performance in Game 1. Kaapo Kähkönen (11-3) stopped 11 shots to earn the victory.
NOTES: Attendance for Game 2 was 8,689, setting an all-time record for an AHL contest at Bojangles Coliseum for the second consecutive game… This is the first Calder Cup Finals series since 2015 (Manchester vs. Utica) to see the first two games both go to overtime… Charlotte was 2-for-5 on the power play in Game 2 after going scoreless in five chances on Friday night… Abbotsford was 1-for-3, improving to 3-for-10 in the series… Shots on goal through the first two games are 96-43 for Charlotte… Of the 20 overtime games played during the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs, eight have been decided within the first five minutes.
(Series tied, 1-1)
Game 1 – Fri., June 13 – Abbotsford 4, CHARLOTTE 3 (2OT)
Game 2 – Sun., June 15 – CHARLOTTE 3, Abbotsford 2 (OT)
Game 3 – Tue., June 17 – Charlotte at Abbotsford, 10:00
Game 4 – Thu., June 19 – Charlotte at Abbotsford, 10:00
Game 5 – Sat., June 21 – Charlotte at Abbotsford, 9:00
*Game 6 – Mon., June 23 – Abbotsford at Charlotte, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., June 25 – Abbotsford at Charlotte, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
