All Hands On Deck
“An immediate and concerted effort of everyone present or available, in a situation that calls for it.”
-Dictionary.com, summarized
“It’s time to win some #@$%& hockey games.”
-Kram
About Last Night
The Phantoms punched their playoff ticket, emphatically, in Bridgeport with a 3-0 shutout win behind contributions from the NHL reinforcements and a shutout by netminder Cal Peterson. Springfield lost as well, but it’s good to get the clincher with a win.
Headed To The First Round, And Beyond?
Wilkes-Barre lost to Hartford last night and finishes their regular season tonight at the corner of 7th and Hamilton. They lead Charlotte by 2 standings points as Charlotte was idle last night. Charlotte plays tonight in Hershey and finishes tomorrow afternoon at the PPL Center. The Penguins can no longer get to the second seed, Providence, and a chance for a bye. But, they’re not locked into the three seed because should they lose to the Phantoms tonight, then Charlotte could tie with a win in Hershey or a win in Allentown tomorrow. If it’s both they get the 3-seed, if it’s one, and it’s in regulation or overtime then we head to further tie-breaks for seeding. The Phantoms are locked into the 6 seed and a first-round HOME playoff game depends on facing the Penguins. Does that mean we should lose to the Penguins tonight? We can’t limp into the playoffs and think we’re gonna turn it on, like we did last season. Gotta win and see where the chips land.
So three in Charlotte or 1-2 or 1-1-1 with Wilkes-Barre in the best-of-3 first round. Penguins writers are already predicting Penguins over the Phantoms in two, but given the recent reinforcements I feel like the Phantoms have a good chance to take it–probably in three. But then just fodder for the powerhouse Bears, right? Not so fast. If I remember my stats correctly, no other team has more wins or more points from games with Hershey this season, than the Phantoms. We’ve been able to get to their goalies and get in their heads a bit. Could we get swept? Absolutely. Could we shock the world? Yeah, I think we could.
Reinforcements
Back in March, several players were “papered” to the Phantoms at the trade deadline so that they could maintain eligibility for the AHL playoffs. With the Flyers eliminated from NHL contention earlier this week, those players were sent to the Phantoms to assist with our playoff efforts. Two forwards, Olle Lycksell and Bobby Brink, should assist greatly with scoring and playmaking. Two defenders, Ronnie Attard and Adam Ginning, should help solidify the blue line as well as help moving the puck. Brinker had a goal and Olle had an assist last night.
Meanwhile, a couple players arrived from Reading as well. Reading did not make the Kelly Cup tournament in the ECHL so these players become available to the Hamilton Street Heroes. Even if they are just our “Black Aces” it’s one more way to get all hands on deck.
Lines last night in Bridgeport:
28 Lycksell 9 Laczynski 24 Brooks
20 Marody 22 Gardner 23 Brink
17 Wilson 56 Gaucher 13 Furry
91 Desnoyers 16 Avon 14 Wisdom
37 Ginning 12 Attard
19 McDonald 2 Grans
98 Mete 7 Belpedio
40 Petersen (35 Kolosov)
Scratches:
31 Parker Gahagen, 32 Felix Sandstrom, 3 Adam Karashik, 4 Will Zmolek, 5 Ethan Samson, 6 Emil Andrae, 8 Mason Millman, 10 Evan Polei, 18 Tyler Gratton, 25 Matt Miller, 27 Samu Tuomaala, 39 Jacques Bouquot, 46 Matt Brown
Discussion:
Samu was an injury scratch, per reports. That one hurts a bit; when you look at the lines it just becomes that much deeper if you can slot him in above. He’s also been a “Penguin Killer” this season, which might come in really handy in the first round. He’s also the guy who can chirp Pens netminder Blomqvist most effectively! Here’s hoping he’ll return full strength. The Andrae scratch is not known at this writing. I tend to think we might be better with him in McDonald’s spot. We’ll await lines for tonight.
Goaltending
A topic all its own right now. Despite plenty of uneven play this season, it does seem that Peterson has the confidence of the coaching staff around here and may be the guy we’re looking to in the playoffs. As all hockey fans know, at hot goalie in the playoffs is a good thing to have! Kolosov got good marks last weekend in his first pro game action in North America. The playoffs is probably not the place to continue that learning curve. Gahagen and Sandstrom are on the team as well. As much as I think Peterson has the confidence of the coaches, I think Sandstrom has lost it. If I had to take a wild guess, I think they go Kolosov and Gahagen tonight and Gahagen and Sandstrom tomorrow then take from that who gets to back up Peterson in the playoffs. If I’m wrong, you’ll see Sandstrom take a more prominent role these next two games.
GAME DAY!
The hated Penguins are in town, because why not? The possible first-round opponent will be getting their work in as well, as they re-integrate reinforcements from Pittsburgh. Last night they lost to Hartford in a game they had to have to try to get up to the two seed. They used their All Star goalie Blomqvist in that effort. I’m going by memory here, but I don’t think Wilkes has fared terribly well against Hartford this season. I think they’d just as soon play the familiar Phantoms in the first round, and that means they’ll be going for the win tonight in an aim to go into the playoffs on a good note and to hold off Charlotte.
A couple recent losses to the hated Penguins have the Phantoms as 4-6-1 versus the Pittsburgh affiliate this season. Three of those wins have been of the OT/SO variety, so keep that in mind when you see the game is close.
It’s ‘Saturday Night Hockey Live’ tonight. No other promotions have been noted. It looks like a pretty good crowd; grab your tickets before heading downtown. There are not a lot of deals to be had on the secondary market for this one.
Parking: No changes to note right now. The Parking Overlords are planning some policy and rate changes over the summer, so we’ll see how that impacts our hockey prices. Stay tuned. If the Phantoms somehow make a deep run towards the Calder, then we may have to deal with that near the end. A good problem to have in that case?
Downtown Update: Sports and Social closed for a private event until 10pm. Remember post game raffle at Chickies after the game!
OFFICIALS
Referee Chad Ingalls (#39)
Referee Jake Kamrass (#3)
Linesperson Shawn Oliver (#56)
Linesperson Kirsten Welsh (#10)
MEDIA KIT
What To Watch
- Goalies, obviously. Take a look at not only who is starting but also who is the back-up. We likely get the Scranton backup tonight so keep that in the back of your mind as well.
- Watch to see if the coaching staff wants to cycle in any of those scratches tonight in advance of possible playoff lines. Or, do they want to get the chemistry locked in?
- With the clincher in the bag, are the guys playing hard tonight or are they going through the motions and looking ahead? Anybody trying to set a physical tone?
- Watch to see how Wilkes approaches this game, as well. As mentioned above, I think they’d rather play us in the first round and that they’ll give full effort in that regard. It’s also possible they go back to Blomqvist tonight in that vein.
- What kind of atmosphere are we bringing in the stands tonight? How about the game presentation, more down to the hockey to get a playoff atmosphere going or we still in entertainment mode? Watch to see how it looks and how it feels.
Feelings
I have to admit I’ve bought in to the team again with the return of the Flyers guys. With this weekend to get things set up I don’t think we’ll be an easy out, at all, in the first or second round. But, they’ll have to play hard and do it the whole time. They’ll have to get some good goaltending and defense. They’ll have to stay out of the box and avoid sloppy play. I’m up for the ride–feels like I might be missing some baseball games coming up here!
Up Next
“Salute To Phans” is tomorrow at 3:05PM as we close out the 2023-24 regular season with a home tilt versus Charlotte. There could be playoff seeding and first-round opponent ramifications as discussed above.
Look for a possible home playoff game on Wednesday. I suppose Tuesday could be a possibility, but Wednesday in Allentown followed by two on the weekend (as needed) up in Wilkes, could be the likely schedule. There’s a concert Thursday at the arena so a home game then would not be possible. There’s also the possibility of 1-1-1 format if Wilkes-Barre is the opponent, because Wilkes-Barre is so close, which might give us a game on Friday. If it’s Charlotte, then we get nothing, and sit at home hoping for a Hershey series.
See you at the arena,
@Kram207