GAME 3 PREVIEW: PHANTOMS VS. MARLIES
In need of a win to climb back into their Calder Cup Eastern Conference Final series, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms take on the Toronto Marlies in Game 3 at the PPL Center Center in Allentown on Wednesday night. Game time is 7:05 p.m. EDT. The game will be televised locally on NBCSNP+ and in Canada on TSN2.
Trailing 2-0 in the series, the Phantoms will need to win at least of three games at home -- the series is being played in a 2-3-2 format -- to take the series back to Toronto. The Phantoms lost Game 1 on Saturday by a 4-3 score and dropped Game 2 in OT, 3-2, after never trailing in regulation.
Toronto's Miro Aaltonen has scored three goals in the series to date, including the OT winner in Game 2. Philippe Myers (power play), Tyrell Goulbourne, Chris Conner (power play), Mark Friedman and Mikhail Vorobyev scored once apiece for the Phantoms over the first two games. Oskar Lindblom is still looking for his first point of the series, as is 2017-18 American Hockey League MVP winner Phi Varone.
After a just-OK performance in Game 1 of the series, Phantoms goalie Alex Lyon deserved a better fate in Game 2. On Sunday, Lyon he stopped 44 of 47 shots (including 19 saves in the first period) in an ultimately losing cause.
Through the first two games of the series, the Phantoms are 5-for-7 on the penalty kill. On the power play, the Phantoms were 2-for-4 in Game 1 but 0-for-2 in Game 2.
*************
QUICK HITS: MAY 23, 2018
1) When it comes to scouting players for the NHL Draft, two mantras of the legendary late Gerry Melnyk still holds true to this day: 1) If you think a kid has a chance to play, stay on him. He might have a great game or a terrible game when you see him that night. Either way, go back and watch him again, again and yet again. 2) At the end of the day, there's no substitute for talent. If the kid can really play, he'll make it.
There is also a question of recency bias. Just as first impressions can be hard to shake in forming an instant judgment, there is also a risk in putting too much stock, either positively or negatively, in what's been happening lately. This is why the best scouts put in a lot of legwork over the course of a season; to avoid overreactions based on small samplings of viewings.
Here's an example from the 2018 Draft crop: Mississauga Steelheads center Ryan McLeod. If a scout liked him as a potential 1st round pick at midseason, watching him during his rough month of February (including just two goals and five points over a 14-game stretch) should not have completely changed the assessment of his upside. He might fall a bit in an organization's final ranking after a so-so overall second half, but should not have fallen off the map.
On the flip side, there are late risers each year, sometimes dramatically. Ideally, it is the culmination of a process of continual improvement -- a 2018 example would be Jesperi Kotkaniemi vaulting into many Top 10 lists and an example from a few years ago would be the way in 2013-14 in which Travis Sanheim, then of the Calgary Hitmen, got better and better each month with the offensive rewards starting to come in the second half. As long as the jump isn't mostly based on overreacting to a small sampling (e.g., a big game or two at the Under-18 Worlds or primarily based on a hot run during the playoffs), it is a legitimate means of marking someone up by the end of the process.
The 2018 Draft crop overall is a good one in terms of players with high upsides to become solid NHL players. But it's also a year where risk tolerance will be tested in rounds one and two beyond the top handful of prospects. There easily could be some big misses on swings for the fences and also players taken later on who outshine many earlier, safer picks.
2) 2018 Memorial Cup: The OHL champion Hamilton Bulldogs (2-1-0) defeated the QMJHL champion Acadie-Bathurst Titan (2-1-0) by a 3-2 score in Memorial Cup round-robin play in Regina on Tuesday night. Flyers 2017 fourth-round pick Matthew Strome assisted on a first-period power play goal by Benjamin Gleason that gave Hamilton a 1-0 lead. Strome finished the night at minus-one in 5-on-5 play with one shot on goal. Flyers 2016 first-round pick German Rubtsov did not record a point, had one shot on goal and was plus-one for the Titan.
On Wednesday, the WHL champion Swift Current Broncos (0-1-1) take on the Regina Pats (1-1-0) in the final game of the preliminary round of the tournament to determine the junior hockey champions of Canada.
3) Bill Clement's "EveryDay Leadership" book is now available in audiobook form. In the book, Clement looks at the common characteristics of good leaders he's been around in various different settings -- both hockey and non-hockey -- and traces his own successes, failures and what he's learned from each. The book was a good read, and the audio version should be pretty entertaining. Bill is a dynamic speaker and good storyteller. The audio book can be ordered
here.
Below is a video of Clement talking at the recent Flyers Alumni Speakers' Series event at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. Here, Bill colorfully recounts the experience of trying to negotiate a contract -- by himself rather than through an agent -- with legendary Flyers general manager Keith Allen.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»