The Phantoms are division champs both ways. A 5-1 win Saturday in Charlotte finished off a five-game series win over the Checkers and sent Lehigh Valley to the Eastern Conference Final against Toronto. Colin McDonald’s first of the playoffs capped it late in the third period after Charlotte finally got on the board with the only shot to beat Alex Lyon in 179:56. (The Yalie had himself a bit of a series.)
Everybody gets a rest: Friday and Saturday starts for the conference finals.
Without updating the whole playoff explainer: There have been 28 chances to win a best-of-7 second-round series since the AHL dropped the first round back to five games in 2012. In those 28 chances, 17 different teams have won a best-of-7. Rockford and Philly/Allentown/Lehigh Valley both did it this week for the first time since 2008.
At Worlds, big result of the day was Finland downing Canada to drop the Canadians to fourth in the pool. Harri Sateri with 30 saves. Canada’s actually behind Denmark, which got a goal and an assist from Frans Nielsen in a win over Korea. Latvia beat Germany — no Kristers Gudlevskis again — to stay alive. Latvia and Canada play on Monday. The U.S., idle Saturday, can clinch a quarterfinals berth with a Sunday regulation win over Norway. On the other side, assist to Nino Niederreiter in a Swiss loss to Russia.
Pool play wraps up on Tuesday, when the United States meets Finland, possibly for first in the pool.