CHARLOTTE - The Charlotte Checkers took a 2-0 lead in their first-round Calder Cup Playoff series with a 4-1 victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a pivotal Game 2.

Josiah Didier netted the game-winning goal in the third period, while Haydn Fleury chipped in with a pair of goals, as well.

Here are five takeaways from Game 2.

CHARLOTTE - The Charlotte Checkers took Game 1 of their first-round Calder Cup Playoff series in dramatic fashion with a comeback 3-2 overtime win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Lucas Wallmark netted the game-winning goal just over three minutes into overtime, while Aleksi Saarela and Valentin Zykov scored to tie the game in the third period.

Here are five takeaways from tonight's playoff opener in Charlotte.

CHARLOTTE - The Charlotte Checkers ended the regular season with seven straight wins and points in 10 straight games (9-0-1). They were the hottest team in the American Hockey League.

But that was then, and this is now: when the Checkers begin their first-round Calder Cup Playoff series against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at home on Friday night, everything resets to zero.

"We wanted to be peaking at the right time, and that's the playoff time. We had a good run coming down the stretch," Checkers head coach Mike Vellucci said. "We had a good season so far, but like I said all week, it means nothing right now. It's a new season. You play all year to get to the playoffs, and then it's a clean slate."

"You've got to leave the season behind, but when you finish well, you get some confidence going as a group and you get greedy to win," defenseman Roland McKeown said. "I want to continue that, and we all do, as well."

The Carolina Hurricanes' season may be over, but a number of Canes prospects are making noise in their own playoff runs.

Here are the highlights from the last couple days.

This is the second installment in a four-part Season in Review series. Part One: Canes Fall Short of Postseason | Part Two: Forwards | Part Three: Defensemen | Part Four: Goaltenders

The Carolina Hurricanes fell short of their team goal, but a number of forwards had breakout performances or took strides in solidifying themselves as viable NHL players.

Here is a breakdown of each of the 20 forwards to skate with the Hurricanes this season.

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Tweetmail is a weekly feature on CarolinaHurricanes.com in which I take your Twitter questions about the Carolina Hurricanes or other assorted topics and answer them in mailbag form. Hopefully the final product is insightful to some degree, and maybe we have some fun along the way.

Let's get to it.

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).

The Carolina Hurricanes' season may be over, but a number of Canes prospects are making noise in their own playoff runs.

Here are the highlights from the weekend.

This is the first installment in a four-part Season in Review series. Part One: Canes Fall Short of Postseason | Part Two: Forwards | Part Three: Defensemen | Part Four: Goaltenders

The 2017-18 season was going to be different for the Carolina Hurricanes.

The Hurricanes traded for and signed their next starting goaltender. The team made a couple of shrewd moves around the expansion draft to add talent with a winning pedigree to its roster. On July 1, the Canes made a free agency splash to bring back an old friend and veteran. All of this on top of a young, talented roster that was another year more experienced and poised to take the next step.

There was palpable promise and hope, and expectations were reasonably high. The Hurricanes were an attractive pick by many to end their eight-year playoff drought, and why not?

Yes, the season was going to be different.

But, as Jakub Dylan crooned with The Wallflowers in the mid-1990s, "the only difference that I see is you are exactly the same as you used to be."

The Carolina Hurricanes' season may be over, but a number of Canes prospects are making noise in their own playoff runs.

Here are the highlights from Thursday, April 12.