1) Game 3 of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms second-round series against the Charlotte Checkers is on Tuesday night the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte. The series is currently tied at 1-1 after the teams split the first two games at the PPL Center in Allentown.
Look for Alex Lyon to return to the net for the Phantoms after Dustin Tokarski got the start in Game 2. The Phantoms will be without forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who will serve the first game of his three-game suspension by the AHL. Top defenseman Travis Sanheim (lower-body injury) was lost at least for the remainder of this series following a knee-to-knee hit by Valentin Zykov in Game 1 of the series.
2) Michael Raffl joined Team Austria at the 2018 IIHF World Championships as the team against Slovakia on Tuesday. Raffl had an assist on a third-period goal by Peter Schneider but the Austrians fell by a 4-2 score. Austria (0-2-1) plays Sweden (3-0-0) on Wednesday.
3) Radko Gudas and Team Czech Republic played Switzerland on Tuesday at the World Championships.
4) Team Belarus, off to a 0-3-0 start at the World Championships, has fired head coach Dave Lewis (former Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins coach and longtime NHL player) in the middle of the preliminary round. For the rest of the tournament, Flyers prospect Maksim Sushko and his teammates will have Sergei Pushkov behind the bench as head coach.
5) OHL Finals: The Hamilton Bulldogs took a two games to one lead in the championship round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs with a 6-5 home win over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in Game 3 of the series on Monday night.
The Greyhounds scored first but the Bulldogs scored the next three goals to take a 3-1 lead with a little less than six-and-a-half minutes left in the opening period. Over the remaining course of the game, the Greyhounds repeatedly pulled back within a goal (courtesy of a 4-on-4 goal and a 3-for-6 night on the power play) only for the Bulldogs to pull back ahead again by two.
Late in the third period, Flyers 2017 first-round pick Morgan Frost was denied from the slot on a Greyhounds 6-on-4 power play with goalie Matthew Villalta pulled for an extra attacker. Taylor Raddysh reclaimed the puck and, from behind the net, fed out again to Frost. Stationed higher this time between the circles, Frost one-timed a shot through the maze in front to cut the gap to 6-5.
The final 6-on-5 push by the Greyhounds failed to produce an equalizer. Frost finished the night with the one power play goal on three shots, minus-one at even strength and had a rough night (8-for-26, tossed from several draws) on faceoffs after going 18-for-23 in Game 2. Through the first three games of the series, Frost has five points (three goals, two assists).
Matthew Strome, who has one assist apiece in each of the three games, earned the primary assist on a Will Bitten goal that gave Hamilton a 3-1 lead in the first period. He finished the night at minus-one without a shot on goal.
Game 4 is in Hamilton on Wednesday. Game 5 will be in the Soo on Friday.
6) Game 3 of the WHL Finals between the Everett Silvertips (Carter Hart) and Swift Current Broncos is on Tuesday in Everett. Likewise, Game 3 of the QMJHL Finals between the Acadie-Bathurst Titan (German Rubtsov) and Blainville-Boisbriand Armada is on Tuesday in Bathurst.