A six-goal run by the Charlotte Checkers defined and determined the East Division semifinals against the Hershey Bears.
On the series ropes and trailing by three goals last Friday, the Checkers summoned six straight scores to turn the first-round collision their way.
Five straight goals delivered a Game 5 comeback that gave them a 3-2 series lead instead of a 2-3 series deficit. The sixth gave them a quick leg up in what became a 2-1 overtime triumph in Game 6 Sunday that eliminated two-time defending Calder Cup champion
“We knew who they were coming in,” Bears goalie Braden Holtby said. “This series, they played well. But I think we just beat ourselves. Third periods came back to bite us. We know that.”
Hershey was outscored a collective 9-3 in the third period. A 1-for-26 (3.8 percent) showing on the power play also sundered the Bears’ bid to win a ninth straight playoff series.
Andrew Gordon was tied with Brian Willsie for the team lead in power-play goals (14) during the regular season. His Game 2 injury loss partly, but not entirely, explains the PP woes in a series in which just one more extra-man tally might have allowed the Bears to return to Giant Center in command of the series.
Before Charlotte began its goal streak, Hershey went 0-for-4 in the first two periods of Game 5. What was a 3-0 lead potentially could have been bigger.
“We didn’t get the pressure,” Bears defenseman Brian Fahey said. “We didn’t get the looks that we wanted to. It just didn’t happen for us. From the PK standpoint, we did a pretty solid job throughout the course of the series [87.9 percent] keeping their high-scoring team off the board.
“At certain points, we kind of let up. I think that’s what hurt us down the road. We didn’t keep the pressure on during the course of six games.”
Fueled by a strong penalty kill (96.2), Charlotte showed itself capable of playing playoff-caliber defense after surrendering the most regular-season goals (243) of any playoff team.
The Checkers, who allowed 3.03 goals per game during the regular season, reduced that to 2.83 against Hershey while basically maintaining (3.2) their regular-season scoring pace (3.31).
Charlotte goalie Mike Murphy (3-1, 2.24 goals-against average, .926 save percentage) outperformed Holtby (2-4, 3.01, .893). Murphy didn’t have a shutout, but he blanked Hershey during two separate three-period stretches.
“I think our team is so talented it’s amazing,” Checkers winger Oskar Osala said. “I think this team is a team where a lot of guys can still be big-time players up top.
“I think this could be one of the teams that you’re looking back and saying, ‘Oh, they had that guy, they had that guy.’ Nobody’s really made a big name of themselves yet. I can say there’s 15 guys that could become a big player in the NHL one day. I think we have a great chance against anybody.”
Charlotte will begin the East Division finals against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Thursday.
“Their goalie’s playing really well,” Bears centerman Keith Aucoin said. “They don’t give up many scoring opportunities. They don’t give up many odd-man rushes.
“I think that’s going to be a good series coming up with Wilkes-Barre. That’s a good group of guys over there that work hard. It’s going to be a good series. It could go either way.”
The second-place Bears, also handicapped by the NHL recall absence of defenseman Sean Collins, will have a long summer after falling to a third-place Charlotte club that finished three points behind them in the regular season.
“I’m not really used to this playing in this organization,” Holtby said. “Being a Hershey Bear, you are accustomed to long playoff runs. That’s probably what makes it even more disappointing is that we knew we had a team that could really compete for a Calder Cup.
“You can say it was a tougher first-round matchup than in years past. But, at the same time, you’ve got to go through the best teams. It just happened to be that we came out on the losing end in the first round.”