GAME 1: PHANTOMS VS. CHECKERS
After a wildly inconsistent performance in the first-round series in which they prevailed in four games, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms begin the second round of the Calder Cup playoffs on Friday night as they take on the Charlotte Checkers. From here on out, all series are best-of-seven after the best-of-five first round.
Game 1 is at the PPL Center on Friday.
The AHL affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes, Charlotte's roster has been stacked for the postseason. They are coming off a first-round sweep of the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins (3-2, 4-1, 7-3) and were an excellent home team during the regular season (26-11-1). The Checkers were the AHL's highest-scoring team during the regular season -- the Phantoms were second -- and had the eighth-lowest team GAA.
With the series being played in a 2-3-2 format, it is particularly important for the Phantoms to come out strong during the early portion of the series. The regular season series between the teams saw both sides go 3-1-0 on home ice against each other.
On the injury front, it is possible that AHL MVP winner Phil Varone (injured in Game 3 of the Providence series), Samuel Morin (out since re-aggravating a lower body injury on Jan. 20) and rookie center Mikhail Vorobyev (upper-body) could return to the Phantoms' lineup at some point in the upcoming series. None are expected to be available for Game 1.
Second-year pro Alex Lyon was the biggest reason the Phantoms survived the first round. He stole Games 1 and 4 of the Providence series. Lehigh Valley also got a strong performance from veteran goaltender Dustin Tokarski in Game 3, and the additions of Travis Sanheim and Oskar Lindblom after the Flyers were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs paid crucial dividends in Games 3 and 4 against Providence.
Ten different players on Charlotte scored at least one goal in their first-round sweep of WB/S. Four players scored twice, while veteran forward Greg McKegg (one goal, four assists) led the team with five points overall. Among the young talents to watch on Charlotte are 19-year-old rookie forward Janne Kuokkanen, 20-year-old right wing sniper Julien Gauthier, 21-year-old defenseman Haydn Fleury, lleft winger Valentin Zykov (a 33-goal scorer during the regular season) and 22-year-old rookie left winger Warren Foegel. Smallish but athletic 22-year-old goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic handles the starting duties and was very good in the WB/S series.
Most of the damage the Checkers did to the Penguins in the first round came at even strength. Charlotte was just 1-for-15 on the power play but scored 13 even strength goals. The team was 6-for-7 on the penalty kill. The Phantoms went 4-for-14 on the power play (1 SHGA) in the Providence series and were 15-for-18 (1 SHG by Lindblom) on the PK.
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QUICK HITS
1) Aftonbladet's Tomas Ros reported that Flyers defenseman Robert Hà¤gg was invited to play for Tre Kronor at the 2018 IIHF World Championships in Denmark but turned down the offer due to needing to heal a minor injury. The article says that Hà¤gg played through the injury in the Stanley Cup playoffs, in which he dressed for Games 5 and 6. It is not clear if the injury is the same lower-body issue from which Hà¤gg initially returned a week ahead of schedule from an initially announced two-week timetable, played two games and then was a coach's decision scratch for the remainder of the regular season and the first four games of the Pittsburgh series.
The article also notes that Hà¤gg, an impending restricted free agent, will be negotiations (via his agent) with the Flyers soon on his next contract now that his entry-level deal is set to expire on July 1.
2) OHL Finals: Flyers prospect Matthew Strome assisted on the game-winning goal in overtime as the Hamilton Bulldogs earned a 4-3 road win over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in Game 1 of the OHL Finals. Strome's initial shot leaked through the pads of Greyhounds goaltender Matthew Villalta and teammate MacKenzie Entwhistle easily tucked the loose puck into the cage from the crease.
The Greyhounds, who have been wildly inconsistent from game to game and period to period in the postseason after steamrolling their way to the best record across all three CHL leagues during the regular season, got off to a slow start in Game 1 of the finals. They were outshot, 14-6 in the first period and went off to intermission trailing, 1-0. Things got worse before they got better as the Bulldogs made it 2-0 on a deflected goal by St. Louis Blues prospect Robert Thomas just 14 seconds into the middle period. At 3:43, Thomas set up Isaac Nurse to make in a 3-0 game.
The Greyhounds woke up after an initially harmless looking play in which 2018 Draft prospect Barrett Hayton used a defenseman as a screen and scored from the top of the left circle. The play was reviewed for a potential offside but the goal stood at 8:24 of the second period.
Exactly two minutes later, the Hounds got back within one. Flyers 2017 first round pick Morgan Frost started the shift with a defensive zone faceoff win (he was 10-for-16 on the night) and the Hounds moved up ice. After the Bulldogs cleared their defensive zone, the Hounds regrouped and moved up again on the attack.
Frost beat a checker in the neutral zone and gained entry into the offensive zone before the puck was poked away by a defender right over to Soo forward Tim Gettinger, who got the puck to the team's top sniper, Boris Katchouk. Katchouk then fired home a shot for his 16th goal of the playoffs. Initially, Gettinger was credited with the lone assist but a secondary helper was added after the game to credit Frost, as it was determined the Bulldogs did not have clear possession after Frost lost control of the puck after entry at the blueline.
In the third period, Taylor Raddysh (who has been separated from the Frost line for the last several games, except on power plays) sniped a goal past Kaden Fulcher to tie the game at 5:53. The Greyhounds, who had killed off a carryover double-minor penalty late in the second and early in the third period, had the better of the play in regulation from the time it was 3-1 onward but could not generate a go-ahead goal.
The Greyhounds had some breakout issues early in the brief OT but no harm resulted. Finally, at 1:57, Hamilton's Entwhistle potted Strome's rebound for his second goal of the game and a lead in the series. The Soo need a win in Game 2 on Saturday to salvage a split.
3) The QMHJHL Finals (featuring German Rubtsov's Acadie-Bathurst Titan vs. Blainville-Boisbriand Armada) and WHL Finals (featuring Carter Hart's Everett Silvertips vs. the Swift Current Broncos) get underway on Friday night in Boisbriand and Swift Current respectively. Both the OHL and QMJHL finals are battles between the No. 1 and No. 2 teams during the regular season, while the WHL series matches the No. 2 and No. 3 teams based on regular season records.
4) Czech forward David Kase signed an entry-level contract with the Flyers on Friday.