BRIDGEPORT, CT – In the 76th and final game of the regular season, the Checkers took care of business to stay hot and clinch 3rd place in the Atlantic Division thanks to their seventh straight win.
With Providence winning its game earlier on Sunday evening, the Checkers needed at least one point from their meeting with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers to jump ahead in the standings. The home squad got on the board first thanks to a ricocheting puck, but 
the visitors would take over from there.
Trevor Carrick ripped a wrister through from the point for a power-play tally late in the first, then rookie Warren Foegele pulled off an impressive power move to the net to give Charlotte a lead early on in the middle frame. The Checkers would buckle down from there, led by a strong showing from netminder Jeremy Smith, and a pair of empty-net tallies would seal the 4-1 victory for Charlotte.
The win cemented Charlotte’s position in 3rd place and set up a first-round matchup with the two-seed Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Penguins. Additionally, although he didn’t light the lamp, tonight wrapped up Valentin Zykov’s historic 2017-18 campaign as his 33 goals on the year clinched him the Willie Marshall Award as the AHL’s leading goal scorer.
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