QUICK HITS: APRIL 15, 2017
1) The Lehigh Valley Phantoms went back to the comeback well yet again on Friday night and extracted a vital 5-4 overtime victory against the Providence Bruins on Friday night at the PPL Center in Allentown. With the win, the Phantoms clinched home ice in the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs.
The Phantoms trailed 4-1 midway though the third period before rallying for three unanswered goals -- the latter two in the final 1:02 of regulation -- to force overtime. Lehigh Valley then completed the comeback in the opening minute of OT.
Scott Laughton (18th goal of the season) scored in the opening minute of the game; one of the few Phantoms highlights until their big comeback in the final stanza. Starting goaltender Alex Lyon, the hero of Wednesday's playoff-clinching win against the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins, stopped just 10 of 14 shots before giving way to Reading callup goaltender Martin Ouellette at 1:18 of the second period. Oullette went on to stop all 18 shots he faced.
In the third period, Phantoms captain Colin McDonald (25th) cut the deficit to 4-2. A few minutes later, Zane McIntyre (32 saves on 37 shots) denied Chris Conner on a penalty shot opportunity. The game seemed destined to go in Providence's favor until Greg Carey (28th) narrowed the gap to 4-3 with 1:02 left on the clock. With Ouellette pulled for an extra attacker, Andy Miele (12th) tied the game. Rookie defenseman Travis Sanheim earned assists on both the McDonald and Carey tallies.
The Phantoms won the game on the second shift of overtime. Corban Knight (11th), who has had a knack for scoring big goals, tallied the game winner at 48-second mark.
Lehigh Valley wraps up the regular season on Saturday night.
2) Flyers left wing prospect Oskar Lindblom notched two goals and an assist as Brynà¤s IF Gà¤vle defeated Frölunda Gothenburg, 3-1, in game seven of the Swedish Hockey League semifinals on Friday. Flyers goalie prospect Felix Sandström turned back 37 of 38 shots to secure his team's trip to the finals.
The series victory for Brynà¤s was an improbable one. The team seemed dead in the water earlier in the series, getting pummeled 6-1 in game two and 6-3 in game three to trail two games to one and then 4-0 in game five to fall behind three games to two.
In game six on home ice, Lindblom chipped in a pair of assists while Sandström stopped all 32 shots he faced as BIF forced a seventh game in Gothenburg with a 6-0 win. That set the stage for Lindblom's offensive heroics in the deciding game and Sandström's second straight gem in goal in a game in which BIF got outshot by a 38-18 margin.
The SHL finals start on Sunday. BIF will be an underdog against HV71 Jönköping. HV71 is 8-1 so far in the playoffs and was the stingiest team in the league defensively (yielding just 99 goals in 52 games) while posting a 27-14-11 record.