Red-Hot Checkers Heading Back to Playoffs

The Charlotte Checkers are the hottest team in the American Hockey League - at just the right time, too, with the Calder Cup Playoffs beginning this week.
The Hurricanes' AHL affiliate booked their second consecutive postseason berth on April 7 and remained hot in the final week of the season to secure a third-place finish in the Atlantic Division. The Checkers will host Games 1 and 2 of their first-round playoff series against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Friday and Saturday at Bojangles' Coliseum.
The Checkers finished the season with a 46-26-4 record and 96 points, the team's highest total since the league instituted a 76-game schedule before the 2011-12 season. A pair of wins in the final weekend of the season extended Charlotte's winning streak to seven games, tying a franchise best, and its point streak to 10 games (9-0-1).

MORE: CHARLOTTE CHECKERS PLAYOFF INFORMATION
Valentin Zykov earned the Willie Marshall Award as the AHL's top goal scorer. Zykov netted a career-high 33 goals, including a league-leading 17 on the power play.

Lucas Wallmark, who played in just 45 games in the 2017-18 season, paced the Checkers with 55 points and 38 assists. Warren Foegele, who scored a goal in each of his first two NHL games with the Hurricanes this season, tallied 28 goals (second among league rookies), 46 points and a plus-22 rating in his first professional season in Charlotte.

Defenseman Philip Samuelsson led the league with a plus-44 rating, the highest by an AHL player since the 2009-10 season and almost triple the Checkers' previous franchise record (plus-16).
In net, Alex Nedeljkovic finished tied for first in the AHL in wins with 31, also a Checkers' franchise record. Nedeljkovic tallied a 31-12-2 record, 2.55 goals-against average and .903 save percentage on the season, and his numbers down the stretch are even more impressive: a 13-3-1 record, 2.25 goals-against average, .915 save percentage and three shutouts since Feb. 9. And,
he also scored a goal
.

The Checkers are led behind the bench by Mike Vellucci, a first-year AHL head coach who also serves as an assistant general manager for the Hurricanes. Vellucci brings with him 13 seasons of experience behind the bench as the head coach of the Ontario Hockey League's Plymouth Whalers, and he's helped guide the Checkers to their second consecutive postseason berth in franchise history.
The first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs features a best-of-five set, and the higher-seeded Penguins have opted to play the final three games of the series at home. That means Games 1 and 2 will be held in Charlotte, where the Checkers posted a sharp 26-11-1 record this season. Game 1 is Friday at 7 p.m., and Game 2 follows on Saturday at 6 p.m.
Tickets are now available
.
Fans at Bojangles' Coliseum will enjoy food and drink specials during the first round, with $2 hot dogs, $2 popcorn, $2 Bojangles' seasoned fries, $2 domestic draft beer and $4 craft draft beer available.