Minor League Report: Phantoms on Brink, Royals Eliminated from Playoffs

4-22-2017_PhantomsvsBears_3rd_credKateFrese-4

(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The minor-league season for the Flyers organization is almost in the books already. Unfortunately, as it goes in the playoffs sometimes, a series can go a certain way that leaves you on the losing end.

One team learned that on Monday night. Another will have to wait until Wednesday to see if they can salvage their season another day or if it all comes to a sudden end.

Here is a look around the minor league system for this week.

AHL

The Phantoms are now down in their series, 2-0, following a 1-0 overtime loss in Game 1 and a heartbreaking 5-4 loss to Hershey. Both games were on home ice at PPL Center.

Our Phantoms beat writer Tommy Hendricks was there to cover the action. The recaps for Games 1 and 2 are below.

Game 1
Game 2

The news didn't get any better for the Phantoms, who saw goalie Alex Lyon go down with a knee injury and get helped off the ice in Game 2 in a scene eerily similar to Anthony Stolarz's injury at the end of the regular season. Lyon was not ruled out for the rest of the playoffs — indicating the injury is not as serious as Stolarz's — but will be out for the rest of the series against Hershey, which could end on Wednesday night in Game 3.

Martin Ouellette will be the starter for the Phantoms. The backup goalie remains to be determined. 18-year-old Carter Hart is on the roster and available, but with the Reading Royals getting eliminated on Monday (more on that below), goalie Mark Dekanich could be headed to the Phantoms to provide some insurance.

The Phantoms face the Bears in Game 3 on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. If they win, Game 4 would be on Saturday night in Hershey, also at 7 p.m. If they lose, the season comes to an unfortunate end.

ECHL

The Royals entered Monday night down 3-2 in the series with the Brampton Beast. Reading lost Game 3, 2-1, but rebounded to even the series at two with a 3-2 win in Game 4. They lost Game 5 in overtime, 2-1, putting them on the brink of elimination.

Reading took a 1-0 lead in the first on Monday, but gave up three third-period goals to drop Game 6, 3-1, ending their season.

Juniors 

The junior players in the system are basically down to any prospects added to the Phantoms roster for the experience in a Calder Cup Playoff series, even if it was just practicing with a team of professional players. Carter Hart was the first to join, then defenseman Philippe Myers joined after Rouyn-Noranda was eliminated from the QMJHL Playoffs. Recently signed forward Connor Bunnaman has also joined the Phantoms roster.

In the Swedish Elite League Final, Brynas is on the cusp of a championship. Brynas took a 3-2 series lead on HV71 with a 2-0 win in Game 5 on Monday.

It's been a tough series for Oskar Lindblom, who has continued to pile up ice time as a top-line player from Brynas. Since he is obviously a key player for an opposing defense, HV71 has done a good job trying to take him out of scoring areas as much as possible. To this point in the series, Lindblom has been held without a point in five games.

Felix Sandstrom started the first two games of the series, split by Brynas 1-1, allowing four goals on 30 shots in a Game 1 loss before rebounding for a win in Game 2, making 14 saves on 16 shots. Sandstrom was not in the lineup for Game 3, but returned for Game 4, serving as the backup. He was back in the crease for Game 5 on Monday and made 24 saves in Brynas' 2-0 shutout win.

Game 6 is on Thursday, where Brynas will have the chance to put an end to the series.

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