QUICK HITS: MAY 1, 2018
1) There will be Flyers prospects involved in all three CHL playoff finals and there is guaranteed to be at least Flyers prospect (representing the Ontario Hockey League champion) in the 2018 Memorial Cup tournament in Regina, Saskatchewan come May 18-27.
2) Morgan Frost's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds won the Wayne Gretzky Trophy (Western Conference championship) on Monday night, defeating Connor Bunnaman's Kitchener Rangers in double-overtime, 4-3, on a goal by Jack Kopacka.
In regulation, Frost had a power play goal and two assists on goals by linemate Boris Katchouk. The Greyhounds scored the lone goal of the first period. Frost collected a Kitchener turnover and passed on the mark to Katchouk, who sped into the Kitchener zone and beat goalie Mario Culina.
Kitchener got the goal back early in the second period on a soft goal allowed by Greyhounds' goalie Matthew Villalta. Kitchener's Jonathan Yantsis came out from behind the goal line and, from a very flat angle below the circle, put the puck toward the net. Villalta misplayed it, and the game was tied at 2:47. Villalta would later atone with many good saves.
The Greyhounds retook the lead at 9:01 of the second period. Frost generated an offensive zone entry, and Kopacka got the puck. Kopacka then passed to Katchouk. From roughly the same spot he scored at the other end of the ice in the first period, Katchouk snapped another shot past Culina for a 2-1 lead.
Kitchener got the game knotted again on a power play goal less than three minutes later. Rickard Hugg took a pass from Kole Sherwood and one-timed it home from the right circle to forge a 2-2 tie at 11:40.
The game remained tied until Logan Brown blatantly tripped a Greyhounds' defenseman behind the Soo net and was called for a minor. On the man advantage, at 11:41, Katchouk put the puck to the net from the right side with Frost stationed in front. The puck took a friendly bounce right onto Frost's stick. The Flyers' 2017 first round selection then pulled the puck far enough on forehand to have room between Culina's pad and the left post, quickly tucking in the go-ahead goal.
The Rangers pulled Culina for an extra attacker. With time ticking down below the final minute, Bunnaman made a cross-seam pass from the left wing over to Logan Stanley at the right point. Stanley then wristed a shot that found the net to tie the game with 52 seconds remaining in regulation.
In the first OT, shots were 11-8 in the Greyhounds' favor. Finally, at the four-minute mark of the second overtime, Kopacka fired a shot from above the right circle that got through Culina -- one of the few stoppable goals he allowed all series -- to end the game and the series.
Frost finished Game 7 with four shots on goal and 25-for-41 on faceoffs. He'd struggled on draws and with various other aspects of his game -- including turnovers, lost puck battles and several stick-related penalties --for much of the series, but had a strong Game 6 and even better Game 7.
Rangers' captain Bunnaman, who will likely be in the American Hockey League next season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, played his final game of junior hockey. He finished with three shots on goal and 8-for-14 on faceoffs in Game 7. For the playoffs, he had 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 19 games, with three points (early Game 1 power play goal and two assists later in the series) in the seven-game series with the Greyhounds.
Bunnaman will likely join the Phantoms for the duration of the Calder Cup playoffs, although he is unlikely to appear in any games. Frost and the Greyhounds will move on play Matthew Strome's Hamilton Bulldogs for the Ontario Hockey League championship.
Although the Greyhounds were the best team in the entire CHL -- not just the Ontario League -- during the regular season, the Bulldogs have been the better and more consistent team in the playoffs so far. Hamilton mowed down Ottawa, Niagara and Kingston in five games apiece.
It should be noted, however, that the Greyhounds faced the tougher opposition but the Soo was also on the receiving end of several blowout losses and games where the highest-scoring team in junior hockey (which never scored fewer than two goals in any regular season game this year) uncharacteristically struggled to generate offense against tighter checking.
After breezing past Saginaw in a first-round sweep, the Greyhounds trailed their second round series with Owen Sound by losing Game 1 at home and then Game 3 on the road. Game 6 on the road was a blowout loss before a wild Game 7 win at home. The Kitchener series was a war that could have gone either way. The home side prevailed in every game.
Frost recorded at least one point in 12 of the Greyhounds' first 13 playoff games. He was then held pointless in Games 3, 4, and 5 and the plus-minus leader of the entire CHL (+70 in the regular season) was a combined minus-five in those games while getting manhandled by the much-bigger Brown. He rebounded to finish the series strong. Overall, he has 22 points (seven goals, 15 assists) in 18 playoff games, 189-for-391 on faceoffs (48.3 percent), 50 shots on goal and 24 PIM.
Strome started the playoffs on a tear, leading the Bulldog in scoring until he suffered a neck stinger in a Game 3 collision with Akil Thomas during the second round of the playoffs. X-rays came back negative and he returned after missing one game. However, he has not been nearly as effective. He had just one point (a Game 4 assist) in the Kingston series. Overall, Strome has 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in the playoffs.
The OHL Finals schedule is follows:
Game 1: Thu May 3 @ Soo
Game 2: Sat May 5 @ Soo
Game 3: Mon May 7 @ Hamilton
Game 4: Wed May 9 @ Hamilton
Game 5: Fri May 11 @ Soo (if necessary)
Game 6: Sun May 13 @ Hamilton (if necessary)
Game 7: Mon May 14 @ Soo (if necessary)
3) The Everett Silvertips staged a dramatic comeback in Game 6 on Monday to defeat the host Tri-City Americans in overtime, 6-5, and advance to the Western Hockey League Finals against the Swift Current Broncos.
The Silvertips led, 2-1, after the first period but the series seemed destined to go a Game 7 after Tri-City pushed back for the next four goals to take a 5-2 lead midway through the third period. Everett then rallied for three goals to force OT and then won the game and series on a Kevin Davis power play goal at 5:58 of overtime.
Flyers top goaltending prospect Carter Hart had been having a spectacular overall playoff run but was not at his best in either Game 5 or Game 6, giving up a combined 9 goals on 46 shots. Two of the goals he yielded in Game 6, including one off a bad rebound on an initially routine save, were at least partially on him. Despite the hiccups in the last two games, Hart brings a 2.44 GAA, .922 save percentage, 12-4 record, two shutouts and 30 saves of a 32-save combined shutout in a second-round game he had to temporarily leave due to illness.
The Silvertips, who had the WHL's third-best overall record in the regular season, face a tall order in the WHL Finals. They face a Swift Current team that had the second-best record in the league in the regular season and was third in goals scored. The Broncos survived seven-game battles in the first and second rounds of the playoffs before closing out their Eastern Conference Final series with Lethbridge on Monday. The Broncos' 51-year-old home rink (renovated a decade ago) has historically been one of the WHL's toughest road buildings.
The final series schedule is as follows:
Game 1: Fri May 4 @ Swift Current
Game 2: Sat May 5 @ Swift Current
Game 3: Tue May 8 @ Everett
Game 4: Wed May 9 @ Everett
Game 5: Fri May 11 @ Everett (if necessary)
Game 6: Sun May 13 @ Swift Current (if necessary)
Game 7: Mon May 14 @ Swift Current (if necessary)
4) The Acadie-Bathurst Titan continue to sit tight and await their opponent in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's President's Cup Finals. The Titan swept the Victoriaville Tigres in the semifinals, wrapping up the series back on April 25.
In the meantime, the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada are locked in a seven-game battle with the Charlottetown Islanders that has seen three games decided in overtime (all in Charlottetown's favor, including a 3-2 final in Game 6 on Sunday). Game 7 is on Tuesday in Boisbriand.
Flyers 2016 first-round pick German Rubtsov has nine points (four goals including a shorthander, five assists) in 13 playoff games to date for the Titan. He has recorded 31 shots on goal, is plus five and has taken 11 penalty minutes (including a spearing major in the team's second-round series with the Sherbrooke Phoenix). Drafted by the Flyers as a center, which is still his preferred position, he has mostly played right wing for the Titan.
From a Flyers standpoint, the more intriguing potential final series would one in which the Armada (by far the Q's top team in the regular season) take on the Titan. The bragging rights alone would make it a fun series.
The Armada, who lost in the QMJHL Finals last year to St. John, are operated by former NHL player and former Flyers Development Camp instructor Joel Bouchard. Flyers assistant coach Ian Laperriere and longtime Flyers fan favorite Danny Briere are among the partners in the ownership group. Meanwhile, Sean Couturier's father, former NHL player Sylvain Couturier, is the general manager and driving force of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. The street the team's arena is located is called Sean Couturier Avenue, and the Flyers' Selke Trophy forward is a minority owner of the team.
The President's Cup Final schedule will be announced after the conclusion of Game 7 of the Blaineville-Boisbriand vs. Charlottetown series. If the Islanders win, regular season top runner-up Acadie-Bathurst will have home-ice advantage. If the Armada wins, the finals will start in Boisbriand with the Armada holding home ice in case of a Game 7.
5) Over on the Flyers' official website, I took an in-depth look at the leading role Travis Sanheim and Oskar Lindblom are playing in the Lehigh Valley Phantoms' pursuit of the Calder Cup following the Flyers' defeat in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. For more,
click here.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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