Charlotte Checkers closer to Calder Cup Finals after Game 5 win at Toronto

The Charlotte Checkers scored three short-handed goals Friday night and dumped the host Toronto Marlies 4-1, moving within one victory of the American Hockey League’s Eastern Conference championship and a spot in the Calder Cup Final.

The Checkers, now up 3-2 in the best-of-7 series, will have up to two chances at Bojangles Coliseum to oust the Marlies, hosting Game 6 at 7 p.m. Sunday. If a seventh game is needed, it will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

On the scoresheet, the defending Calder Cup champion Marlies did everything right.

They outshot Charlotte 41-24 and had six power plays to Charlotte’s three. They peppered Checkers backup goaltender Dustin Tokarski with shots all night, but Tokarski made 40 saves and ran his record with Charlotte to 10-0 this season.

Meanwhile, the Checkers were at their best when they were outnumbered.

Trevor Moore put Toronto in front 1-0 midway in the first period. The Marlies nearly made the score 2-0 on a Charlotte power play, outshooting the Checkers 2-1 while short-handed. Tokarski made a pair of big saves in that attack.

Then Charlotte evened the score on a Toronto power play, as Nicolas Roy got the puck on a breakaway and beat Marlies backup goaltender Michael Hutchinson on a low line drive with 59 seconds left in the first period.

The Checkers made the score 2-1 just 18 seconds into the second period, when both teams had a player in the penalty back. Charlotte’s Stello Mattheos occupied two Toronto defenders and passed the puck to a wide-open Steven Lorentz on the left side of the Marlies’ goal. Lorentz swatted the puck past Hutchinson.

Charlotte’s third goal came at the 2:32 mark of the third period, with the Checkers again short-handed. Defenseman Haydn Fleury split two defenders and skated in on Hutchinson, beating him with a shot to the left side of the goal.

The Marlies pulled Hutchinson for an extra attacker with 3:55 left, and Charlotte’s Clark Bishop made the score 4-1 on an empty-net goal with 1:55 remaining.

3 who mattered

Dustin Tokarski, Charlotte: Tokarski remained unbeaten with the Checkers, registering 40 saves, several of which were of the “spectacular” variety.

Nicolas Roy, Charlotte: He stole the puck and scored on a short-handed breakaway late in the first period, evening the score.

Roland McKeown, Charlotte: McKeown was part of the solid Checkers defense that limited Toronto to one goal despite the 41 Marlies’ shots. McKeown made a number of big defensive plays throughout the game.

Worth mentioning

▪ The game drew a crowd of 7,734 to Toronto’s Coca-Cola Coliseum, the biggest crowd so far in the Eastern Conference finals.

▪ Thursday’s overtime victory by Toronto was their eighth straight overtime playoff victory. According to the AHL, that ties for third in league history.

▪ Friday’s game followed a familiar theme for the Checkers in the playoffs. They were whistled for seven penalties, Toronto for four. For the series, Checkers’ opponents have been called for 55 penalties. Charlotte has been whistled for 76.

▪ The Marlies outshot Charlotte in every period Friday night – 15-9 in the first, 14-10 in the second, and 12-5 in the third. That’s a total of 41-24.

▪ First things first, right? The Checkers still have to finish out this AHL semifinal series. But if they advance to the finals, the league will have to work around a crowded coliseum schedule. The arena is scheduled to host a number of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools high school graduation ceremonies during the period of June 8-13. In addition, Charlotte Catholic will hold commencement at the coliseum next Friday, about the time the finals would start.

What’s next?

▪ The teams return to Charlotte for Game 6 at 7 p.m. Sunday at Bojangles Coliseum. They’ll play on the ice, on a day when it could exceed 95 degrees outdoors.

This story was originally published May 24, 2019 at 10:17 PM.