The Florida Panthers ended their season with a win against the Red Wings earlier this month, yet hoped their AHL team in Charlotte would keep things going for a bit.
That all ended on Saturday night.
The Charlotte Checkers, who made it to the AHL’s Calder Cup Final last year, saw their season come to an unexpected close Saturday with a 2-1 overtime loss to the Springfield Thunderbirds in their best-of-3 first-round series.
The Thunderbirds were Florida’s AHL team for a few years before flipping to the St. Louis Blues in 2020.
Regardless, the Checkers saw their season end after opening with an 8-1 win in Game 1 on Wednesday night.
In Game 2, Springfield pulled out a 5-2 win to force a Game 3 finale.
Saturday, Charlotte scored first for the third straight game when Toby Bjornfot scored off a pass from Jack Studnicka at 5:58 of the opening period.
In the third, Calle Rosen scored at 5:45 on a bouncing puck that beat Cooper Black — playing his third game of the series and second in as many nights — to tie the score.
Julien Gauthier scored on a backhanded shot 14:50 into overtime to give the T-Birds the victory.
Charlotte won its only Calder Cup in 2019 with Gauthier on the team.
The Thunderbirds are the first team in Calder Cup playoff history to win a series after losing Game 1 by more than five goals.
Charlotte had eight players who were with the Panthers in their final couple weeks of the season and 10 players who made an appearance with Florida this season in Saturday’s game.
“Unfortunately, it’s the best two out of three,’’ Charlotte coach Geordie Kinnear said afterward.
”I really feel bad for the guys because they came together in a short period of time with a lot of guys getting their first opportunity in the NHL, new guys coming into a leadership group. The best time of the year is after this. You continue to build and those games are important if you want to win in the end.
“Obviously we fell short, but I think you also have to give credit to where credit is due. Springfield, over the course of the last couple of months, has really improved. They changed their roster and played really good hockey. They had to fight tooth and nail to get in. Credit to them.”
Springfield moves on in the Calder Cup playoffs and will meet the Providence Bruins in the Round 2 starting on Friday.
