Charlotte Checkers confident as they open 2nd playoff round with some missing players

The Charlotte Checkers open play Friday night in the second round of the American Hockey League playoffs, with arguably their best player 164 miles away from Bojangles Coliseum.

But the Checkers are showing a confident air as they prepare to begin their best-of-7 series at 7 p.m. Friday against the Hershey Bears.

Absent from the Checkers’ lineup will be AHL Goalkeeper of the Year Alex Nedeljkovic – who will be on the Carolina Hurricanes’ bench Friday night when the Canes attempt to complete a sweep of the New York Islanders in a second-round NHL playoff series.

Nedeljkovic, along with forwards Clark Bishop and Patrick Brown and defensemen Haydn Fleury and Jake Bean, have spent time the past two weeks with the injury-plagued Hurricanes. Bishop and Bean were returned Thursday to Charlotte.

Veteran Dustin Tokarski, the Checkers’ backup, will be in goal for Game 1.

“He’s got experience,” Checkers coach Mike Vellucci said of Tokarski, who was acquired by Charlotte in late February and has compiled a 7-0 record. “That’s why we got him. He’s mature, and his teammates love him.”

Here are five bold predictions about this Charlotte-Hershey series:

Tokarski will play well: Tokarski, 29, was in goal when Norfolk won the AHL’s Calder Cup in 2012, when Spokane won the Canadian junior hockey championship in 2008, and when Canada won the World Junior Championship in 2009.

He is 7-0 this season with a 1.14 goals-allowed average. One question: Tokarski has been in a backup role with Charlotte. How will he fare playing back-to-back games Friday and Saturday nights?

Nedeljkovic will be back: Carolina called up Nedeljkovic when Peter Mrazek suffered a lower-body injury in Game 2 of the Islanders’ series. Hurricanes insiders insist Mrazek is close to returning to action. It’s possible Nedeljkovic could be back with Charlotte when the team heads to Hershey, Pa., for Game 3 on Tuesday.

Goals will be a luxury: Hershey was among the AHL’s best teams in the second half of the season, and a big reason was the play of goalies Vitek Vanecek (1.49 goals-allowed average) and rookie Ilya Samsonov (1.61).

With the Checkers’ tough defense, it means we can expect low-scoring, tightly-played games. One early advantage for Hershey: two experienced, solid goalies. The Checkers will have to rely on Tokarski, as the backup is Jeremy Helvig, called up this week from Florida of the ECHL.

Young players will be key: In the first-round victory over Providence, the Checkers got strong play from forward Jacob Pritchard, who was playing college hockey two months ago, and defenseman Derek Sheppard, recently called up from the ECHL. Contributions from Pritchard, Sheppard and rookie Morgan Geekie, who also had a great first series, will be a big lift.

This series will be tougher: The Checkers dispatched Providence in four games and dominated the two contests at home. This series probably will be more difficult.

For starters, Charlotte was 1-3 this season against Hershey. Add in the comings and goings with the roster changes, and it spells a difficult series for the Checkers.

The schedule

Games 1 and 2 are in Charlotte – 7 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday at Bojangles Coliseum. Games 3-4 will be in Hershey, at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday.

And “if-needed” Game 5 would be at 7 p.m. next Friday in Hershey, followed by Game 6 at 5 p.m. May 12 (Mothers Day) and 7 p.m. May 14.

The Checkers-Hershey winner faces the Toronto-Cleveland winner in the Eastern Conference finals.

This story was originally published May 2, 2019 at 5:06 PM.