QUICK HITS: APRIL 29, 2018
1. Entering the 2018 NHL Draft Lottery, the overwhelming odds favored the Flyers' receiving the 14th overall pick of the Draft via the St. Louis Blues. That is exactly how it played out, and the pick will now to Philadelphia to complete the Brayden Schenn trade made on Draft weekend last summer. The Flyers will also pick 19th overall with their own selection. The Draft will be held on June 22-23 in Dallas.
2. On Thursday, Flyers general manager Ron Hextall and Dave Hakstol explained, in very broad terms, what some of their major goals are for improvement next season. The primary topics they discussed in their public commentary
are synthesized into an article at PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
3. The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have advanced to the second round of the Calder Cup playoffs after eking out a 4-3 overtime win against the Providence Bruins at the PPL Center in Allentown on Saturday night.
The match was a tale of two almost diametrically different hockey games. The first period was all Phantoms. The rest of the game, but especially the third period and overtime right up to a fluky series-winning goal for Lehigh Valley, was owned more and more by the Bruins. Beyond the first period, the Phantoms were outshot by a whopping 46-16 margin.
Alex Lyon was the biggest hero for the Phantoms in the clincher. The second-year pro stopped 49 of 52 shots -- including numerous 10-bell saves along the way -- and almost singlehandedly prevented the series from going to a fifth game on Monday.
Chris Conner notched two goals and an assist for the Phantoms. Lehigh Valley also got goals from T.J. Brennan and the overtime winner from one of the unlikeliest sources on the team, defensive defenseman Max Lamarche.
On a shift-in an shift-out basis, especially in the first period and on the penalty kill, the Phantoms best forward was Oskar Lindblom. Coming off a two-goal performance in Game 3 on Friday, the Swedish rookie had three scoring chances from close range in the first period alone, and also earned a secondary assist on the first of two Conner goals.
On the blueline, Travis Sanheim logged a monstrous 34 minutes of ice time for Lehigh Valley. He made some good plays in all three zones, although he finished without a point and at minus-two on the night along with defense partner Philippe Myers.
The Phantoms dominated the first period, blasting out of the gates to a 3-0 lead and 14-6 edge in shots through a dominating opening 20 minutes. Brennan fired a point shot home through traffic to establish a 1-0 lead at 7:27. On the next shift, the seas parted as the Phantoms rushed up the ice and Conner crashed the net to stash the puck home and double the lead at the 8:04 mark.
Lehigh Valley expanded its lead to 3-0 at 16:26 of the first period. Conner received a lead pass from Greg Carey and went off on a breakaway. He slid a backhander through the pads of Providence starting goaltender Jordan Binnington to open up a commanding lead.
Picking up where a feisty Game 3 left on Friday, the first period of Game 4 was a powder keg between and after the whistles. Things boiled over at 9:16 mark when the Phantoms were leading 2-0. Myers took exception to a late hit in the corner and defense partner Sanheim was the first to rush in. Then everyone on the for both sides rushed in and a lengthy altercation ensued. Every time things would start to calm down, someone would stir the pot and hostilities flared again.
During the fracas, Binnington skated out to the red line, chirping at Lyon and challenging him to fight. With his team leading by two goals and feeling on top of his game, Lyon declined.
At the end of the period, Binnington skated rapidly of his net, seeming intent on chirping and/or again challenging his goaltending counterpart on the other side. In his path was diminutive Phantoms forward Danick Martel, who was basically just milling around with the period being over. Binnington decided to take a pop at Martel, knocking his helmet off and nearly triggering another blow-up between the teams. Escorted off the ice, the Bruins' goalie waved his arms at the booing PPL Center crowd.
For his frustrations and histrionics, Binnington earned a needless roughing penalty and a seat on the bench for the rest of the night. Zane McIntyre took over in goal for Providence. The Phantoms' fans taunted Binnington at the start of the second period with a "Where is Jordan?" chant.
The Phantoms failed to capitalize on their power play to start the second period, beginning what was a sleepy frame for the team and a rather sloppy period for both sides. However, despite some Providence turnovers, it was the Bruins who built momentum as the period rolled along.
Finally, the Bruins cut the gap to 3-1 at the 17:34 mark. After a faceoff win by Providence, Tommy Cross fired a point shot through multiple layers of traffic and the puck found its way in the net past a heavily screened Lyon. Second period shots were 14-6 in the Bruins' favor. Lehigh Valley only had one Grade A chance in the second period; a backhander near the net by Corban Knight that McIntyre turned away.
Lehigh Valley, already missing AHL 2017-18 MVP winner Phil Varone from the lineup on Saturday, had to play the third period and overtime one forward short. Tyrell Goulbourne went off seemingly woozy after a check in the neutral zone and did not returnn.
The third period was even more lopsided, with Providence racking up an 18-4 shot advantage. The Phantoms had nary a scoring chance of note until late in the final period.
The best Lehigh Valley shift of the period, apart from some solid forechecking by Nicolas Aube-Kubel and his linemates that made Providence spend some too-rare time in their own end, was Lindblom's work on a penalty kill. Lindblom occupied the puck in the offensive zone left corner for about 12 seconds, and it took three Providence players to finally pry it loose. By then the penalty was over.
The Phantoms found themselves shorthanded twice in the third period. Rookie defenseman Mark Friedman took a bad cross-checking penalty early the period. Later, Radel Fazleev was called for interference. The Bruins did not score on either man advantage, courtesy of seven saves by Lyon and an unfriendly bounce off the goal post, but they generated post-power play momentum afterwards.
With exactly eight minutes left in regulation, Anton Blidh narrowed the gap to 3-2 on a shot that deflected off a Phantom in front. With 5:01 left, Providence got the game tied at 3-3 as Austin Czarnik deflected home a Paul Postma shot and Kenny Agostino earned his second assist of the game.
Late in regulation, Carey had the Phantoms best scoring chance since the first period but was stoned by McIntyre. Providence missed the net (a frequent issue for the Bruins in the series) on an open chance with Lyon seemingly beaten. Lindblom was hog-tied and held down by Postma twice in waning seconds but since there was no scoring chance involved, there was no call.
Overtime was nothing short of agonizing for both teams: for Lehigh Valley because they got hemmed in repeatedly and got overwhelmed by waves of attack from Providence, and for the Bruins because they kept robbed by Lyon on great chance after chance.
Through the 18:15 mark of the overtime frame, shots were 14-3 in favor of the Bruins. Finally, the Phantoms moved up the ice and a seemingly nothing play turned into an unforgettable one. From the left corner, Lamarche weakly puck the puck to the net. Surprised by the arrival of the change-up speed puck and down in a reserve VH, the puck somehow found open space from a very flat angle and went in the net at the 18:36 mark.
Just like that, the game and series were over. The playoff series win for the Phantoms was their first since 2008, when the franchise was still playing out of the since-demolished Spectrum as the Philadelphia Phantoms. The second round series schedule against Charlotte will be in a 2-3-2 format as follows:
Game 1: Fri. 5/4 @ Lehigh Valley 7:05 p.m. EDT
Game 2: Sat. 5/5 @ Lehigh Valley 7:05 p.m. EDT
Game 3: Tue. 5/8 @ Charlotte 7:00 p.m. EDT
Game 4: Wed 5/9 @ Charlotte 7:00 p.m. EDT
Game 5 : Sat 5/12 @ Charlotte 6:00 p.m. EDT (if necessary)
Game 6: Mon 5/14 @ Lehigh Valley 7:05 p.m. EDT (if necessary)
Game 7: Tue 5/15 @ Lehigh Valley 7:05 p.m. EDT (if necessary)
4. In addition to Varone, the Phantoms lineup was missing forward Mikhail Vorobyev, while defenseman Samuel Morin has remained sidelined since getting reinjured in the outdoor game in Hersey on Jan. 20. Goaltender Anthony Stolarz, who is once again having a knee issue per Flyers general manager Ron Hextall, is still working out with the team but it seems likely that he will held out of the rest of the playoffs at least for precautionary reasons. Veteran defenseman Will O'Neill was scratched from the Phantoms lineup again for Game 4.
The Lehigh Valley starting lineup in the clinching game was as follows:
18 Danick Martel - 21 Mike Vecchione- 22 Chris Conner
10 Greg Carey- 14 Corban Knight - 16 Nicolas Aube-Kubel
28 Oskar Lindblom - 9 Cole Bardreau - 36 Alex Krushelnyski
12 Tyrell Goulbourne - 19 Radel Fazleev - 13 Colin McDonald
6 Travis Sanhem - 5 Philippe Myers
43 T.J. Brennan - 37 Mark Friedman
44 Reese Willcox - 20 Maxime Lamarche
34 Alex Lyon
[35 Dustin Tokarski]
5. The Kitchener Rangers (Connor Bunnaman) forced a seventh and deciding game of the Ontario Hockey League Western Conference Final against the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (Morgan Frost) with a 4-3 overtime win on Sunday afternoon in Kitchener.
Tied at 1-1 after two periods, Kitchener opened a two-goal lead in the third period before the Greyhounds' Taylor Raddysh responded with a pair of tallies to send the game to overtime.
Frost, who had gone pointless in three straight games while struggling mightily on both sides of the puck and with turnovers, played his best game of the series since Game 2. He set up or had from himself no fewer than five scoring chances in Game 6, including one that Frost rang off the post from the slot on a rush. Linemate Boris Katchouk was robbed in close by Rangers' goalie Mario Culina on one point blank chance set up by Frost, and drew iron on another. In the third period, Frost had Ryan Roth set up near the right post but Roth mistimed the puck.
In what has been a rather nasty-edged series, Frost was on the receiving end of a knee-to-thigh (nearly knee-to-knee) hit in the third period. He was down for a long moment but seemed fine when he got up and continued play.
Finally, with the Greyhounds trailing 3-2 and on a late third period power play (which became a 6-on-4 when they pulled goalie Matthew Villalta for an extra attacker), Frost had a look at the net from the deep slot. His shot missed the mark but Raddysh claimed the puck behind the net, swung out to the bottom of the left circle and scored to tie the game at 4-4. Frost's primary assist on the goal was just his third point of the series.
Sault Ste. Marie had a chance to win the game on the power play in OT. They came close but could not find a series-winning goal. One of the chances belonged to Frost on the left half boards, where he had room to the short side for a fraction of a second but fired over the net. He also had Raddysh set up on a good chance.
Finally, at 13:12, Kitchener's Kole Sherwood scored on a broken play on front to lift the Rangers to a victory and force Game 7 on Monday night. One of the series' primary antagonists, Kitchener forward Givani Smith (who also scored the first Kitchener goal of the game on a play that required an extremely lengthy replay delay to determine that it completely crossed the goal line) punctuated the win by skating by the Soo bench and flipping off the Greyhounds' players.
Frost finished Game 6 with one assist, a plus-one at even strength, four shots on one, a third-period minor penalty for slashing fellow Flyers prospect Bunnaman, and 12-for-25 on faceoffs. Rangers captain Bunnaman, who would have been playing his final game of junior hockey had Kitchener lost, finished with no points, at plus-one, with three shots on goal and 9-for-14 on faceoffs.
6. Game 6 of the WHL Western Conference Final will be in Tri-City on Monday night at 10:05 p.m. EDT. The Silvertips still lead the series, three games to two, but failed to close out the series on home ice on Saturday as they suffered a 5-2 setback. Carter Hart stopped 19 of 23 shots in the loss. The final goal for the Americans was an empty-netter.
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