CHARLOTTE — The Charlotte Checkers couldn’t have asked for a better start.
The Checkers topped the Chicago Wolves 4-0 Thursday in the first game of their best-of-five Central Division playoff series, getting a 20-save shutout from goalie Tom McCollum and a pair of goals and an assist from center Lucas Wallmark.
Game 2 of the series will be played Friday at Bojangles Coliseum.
Brendan Woods and Andrew Miller also scored for the Checkers, who went 2-5-1-0 against Chicago in the regular season. It was the kind of positionally sound, hard-working game that Checkers coach Ulf Samuelsson wanted in the Checkers’ first playoff game sine 2013.