Quick Hits: April 21, 2023
1) The third and deciding game of the best-of-three Calder Cup first round series between the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and Charlotte Checkers will take place tonight at the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte. Game time is 7:00 p.m. EDT. The game will be streamed live on AHLTV (subscription required).
Last night in Game 2, the Checkers prolonged the series with a 5-4 win in double overtime. In a sequence that saw Samuel Ersson make a pair of spectacular saves but the Phantoms unable to get possession for a clear, Charlotte defenseman Lucas Carlsson (2nd goal of the series) finally scored from the slot to end the game after 98:48 of hockey.
There's no time for the Phantoms to lament the missed opportunity to close out the series and advance to the second round nor for Charlotte to celebrate the win. The teams are right back in action tonight. There is no word on whether former Phantoms/Flyers forward Gerry Mayhew (24 goals, 44 points in the regular season) will be available for the deciding game. Mayhew was unable to play in Game 2.
In the opening period of Game 2, the Phantoms fell into an early 2-0 deficit on a power play goal by Justin Sourdif at 4:44 and an even strength marker by Calle Sjà¤llin at 6:06. The penalty kill has been a sore spot for the Phantoms all season -- they ranked at the bottom of the 32-team AHL in that special teams category -- and Lehigh Valley has allowed Charlotte power play goals in each of the first two games of the series. The PK got carved during much of the 4-on-5 but actually managed a clear shortly prior to Sourdif scoring on the rush.
The Phantoms had four separate power play opportunities in the first period including 1:59 of a two-man advantage after Patrick Giles was called for a faceoff violation off the first draw in a 5-on-4 for Lehigh Valley. The two-man advantage didn't start well. The Phantoms lost the first faceoff, briefly had a de facto 5-on-2 (after ex-Phantoms/Flyers center was stung by a Tyler Foerster one-timer) but couldn't put a shot through on net. Finally, they cashed in at the 19:17 mark as Artem Anisimov (1st goal of the series) scored from a very tight angle to cut the deficit to 2-1. The assists went to Garrett Wilson and Foerster.
The second period was lopsided in Charlotte's favor. It took 17 saves by Ersson to keep the deficit to one goal. Ersson made an excellent save on a Sourdif penalty shot at 18:43 (a Phantom covered the puck with his glove in the blue paint during a scramble at the net). There were also several missed nets or blocked shots with room to score on secondary opportunities. Lastly, there was also a Charlotte shot attempt off the goal post. Somehow, despite a 17-3 shot on goal disadvantage and a large-scale negative disparity in scoring chances, the Phantoms got the game to the third period down only 2-1.
On the opening shift of the third period, Olle Lycksell (1st goal of the series) received a pass out from Adam Brooks and tied the game at the 40-second mark. Cooper Marody also collected an assist, his second of the series, on the sequence as he chipped the puck behind the net to Brooks.
At 6:04, the Phantoms Louie Belpedio got an initial holding penalty out of what turned into a skirmish that also took Lehigh Valley's Wilson and Charlotte's Dominic Franco off for offsetting roughing minors. The Phantoms' penalty killing woes continued as Cory Conacher (1st goal of the series) cashed in on the power play at 6:46. The assists went to Carlsson and Ryan McAllister. Charlotte then seemingly put a stranglehold on the game at 9:24 as Bunnaman (16 regular season goals) tallied his first of the series against his former club to create a 4-2 lead with just over a half-period remaining.
The Phantoms drew back within 4-3 at the 12:03 mark on Lycksell second tally of the third period, assisted by Ronnie Attard. Attard, who played a whale of a game (and finished with three shots on goal and a plus-three), held the puck in the defensive zone on a failed clearing chance and sent the puck to Lycksell behind the D in the slot. Lycksell made no mistake.
Lehigh Valley forged a 4-4 deadlock at 13:36. A gorgeous setup from Bobby Brink down low to an open Elliot Desnoyers (1st goal of the series) in the slot produced a vital goal at a clutch moment. The game went to overtime.
The first overtime period, at least the first 10 minutes, was dominated by Charlotte. The Phantoms came on later in the frame. Charlotte goalie Mack Guzda made seven saves while Ersson made eight. There was a lot of trading off of scoring chances in segments of the period but, apart from big saves, both sides found ways to block shots at key moments.
The majority of the second OT saw the Phantoms get the better of the play and the superior chances until the mid-period television timeout. Charlotte started to take over again. Ersson made several mind-boggling saves right up until Carlsson finally scored at 18:48 to end the game. The assists went to John Ludvig and Bunnaman.
2) The Flyers announced on Thursday that Phantoms/Flyers defenseman Egor Zamula underwent left shoulder surgery on April 10. He will miss the duration of the Calder Cup playoffs but is expected to be ready for the start of Flyers' training camp in September. Zamula was forced out of the Phantoms' March 31 game against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with the shoulder injury.
3) Per Puckpedia, 15 NHL teams exceeded the salary cap ceiling in 2022-23 once end-of-season performance bonuses were paid to players on entry-level or over-35 contracts. The Flyers were one of the teams and will incur a penalty of $1,187,500 off their maximum available cap space for 2023-24.
What killed the Flyers capwise is that Sean Couturier ($7.75M), Cam Atkinson ($5.875M) and Ryan Ellis (LTIR, $6.25M) played a combined 0 games. The LTIR replacement allowance for Ellis, once bonuses were added in, put them over the cap. At the end of the season, the Flyers owed performance bonuses of varying amounts to ELC players Noah Cates and Cam York as well as to age 35+ defenseman Justin Braun.
No team will get hit with steeper cap penalties next season than the Boston Bruins, who incurred $4,500,000 of overages this season that will come off available space for next year. The Flyers had the second-biggest overage, followed by the Montreal Canadiens ($1,170.000).
🚨Breaking🚨
— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) April 21, 2023
15 Teams incurred Performance Bonus overages from this year which will be a bonus carryover cap hit for 23-24.#NHLBruins lead the way with a $4.5M bonus overage #FueledbyPhilly & #GoHabsGo next with $1.1M+
Check out full list and recap:https://t.co/pDj3rCo0Lz
4) Flyers Daily: Flyers Interim general manager Danny Briere was Jason Myrtetetus' guest on Friday's edition of the Flyers Daily podcast. Briere discussed the coming offseason, roster building and the traits he looks for in players, among other topics. To listen, click here.
5) In partnership with Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center, the Philadelphia Flyers and Flyers Charities released a public service announcement video on Thursday to promote prostate cancer screening. The video features current Flyers players Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim, Flyers Alumni Association president Brad Marsh, in-arena game night presentation host Everett Jackson and a cameo from Zack Hill.
All Flyers players are doing charity/community activism projects in conjunction with Flyers Charities. Konecny and Sanheim chose ro participate in organization's prostate cancer awaness and education initiative as their designated project. Back in November 2022, Flyers Charities selected the Abramson Cancer Center as the recipient of a $100,000 grant to fund their prostate cancer awareness efforts, including five prostate cancer screening events in the community and the development of the co-branded educational video.
@NHLFlyers players Travis Konecny & Travis Sanheim, along with @GrittyNHL and Flyers in-arena host Everett Jackson are getting the word out about the importance of prostate cancer screenings, which are recommended for men over the age of 45. pic.twitter.com/b4Synw2TtD
— Penn Medicine (@PennMedicine) April 20, 2023
The Abramson Cancer Center will be hosting a series of mobile prostate cancer screening events in the community as part of the project. The dates and locales:
Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church Saturday, April 22 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. 2800 W. Cheltenham Ave. Philadelphia, PA
Frontline Dad’s, Inc. Saturday, May 20 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. 410 N. 34th Street Philadelphia, PA
Community Health Fair at Community of Compassion Sunday, June 11 10a.m. - 4 p.m. 6150 Cedar Ave. Philadelphia, PA