AHL Playoff Preview: Hershey Bears at Charlotte Checkers with Line Combinations 5/16/2025

Game 1: Hershey Bears at Charlotte Checkers  

Venue Bojangles Coliseum
Date: Friday, May 16
Time: 7:00 pm EST
TV: FLO Sports 

Purchase tickets via Ticketmaster

Hershey Bears News & Notes:

Hershey took the series over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in five to reach the Atlantic Division Finals. They averaged 3.2 goals per game while allowing 2.6 goals per game. Hunter Shepard posted a 2.31 goals-against average, a .898 save percentage, and a shutout. Clay Stevenson stopped 28 of the 32 shots he faced in his lone game. The Bears went 4-4-0-0 in the regular season against the Checkers, averaging 2.3 goals per game.

Charlotte Checkers News & Notes:

The Checkers went five games with the Providence Bruins after taking games one and two before dropping games three and four, finally they won the decisive game five. They are averaging 3.2 goals per game while allowing 1.8 goals per game. Kaapo Kahkonen is posting a 1.78 goals-against average, a .926 save percentage, and a shutout. The Checkers went 3-3-1-1 against the Bears in the regular season, averaging 2.3 goals per game.

Hershey Bears Projected Lines

Limoges-Lapierre-Smallman
Vechhione-Roe-Dube
Miroshnichenko-Philp-Trineyev
Smith-Strome

Ness-Iorio
Massie-Priskie
McDonald-Hunt
Perrott

Shepard
Stevenson

Charlotte Checkers Projected Lines

Skoog-Asplund-Leonard
Smith-Criscuolo-Sourdif
Steeves-Okuliar-Vilmanis
Lockwood-Chorske-Puljujarvi

Carrick-Benning
Bjornfot-Hovorka
Alscher-Cesana

Kahkonen
Appleby

Players To Watch:

Hershey Bears

Alex Limoges leads the team in points and assists with six points and five assists. Bogdan Trineyev leads the team in goals with three. Trineyev, Jon McDonald, Matt Strome, and Riley Sutter lead in plus/minus with a plus-three.

Charlotte Checkers

Wilmer Skoog leads the team in points with four. He is also tied for the team lead in goals with Ben Steeves, both have three. Kyle Criscuolo leads in assists with three. Will Lockwood leads the team in plus/minus with a plus-five.

Next Game

Game 2: Saturday, May 17 at Bojangles Coliseum

ITR 49: For Real This Time – Inside The Rink

Join Chris and Conrad as they discuss Milan Lucic's recent PTO with the St. Louis Blues, Marco Rossi inks a contract extension, and is Carey Price's contract about to be traded? All of this and much more!

1. ITR 49: For Real This Time 32:21
2. ITR 48: Testing…Testing… 34:18
3. ITR 47: Then There Was Nothing 32:56
4. ITR 46: Offseason Chaos 24:53
5. ITR 45: Everything Is Happening 37:46