For the first time in five seasons, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the AHL affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers, have clinched a spot in the 2023 Calder Cup Playoffs.
The Phantoms have joined the ECHL’s Reading Royals in clinching a playoff berth, so both of the Flyers’ minor-league affiliates will now be fighting for championships this spring.
The Phantoms defeated the Springfield Thunderbirds 4-3 at PPL Center on Saturday night to secure their spot. Olle Lycksell netted the game-winning goal with just 3:24 remaining in the third period.
After the club missed out on the playoffs in 2019 and 2022 and after COVID-19 wiped out the 2020 and 2021 playoffs, PPL Center will finally host AHL postseason hockey again.
This will be the 13th Calder Cup Playoffs appearance in franchise history and 3rd since moving to Allentown. The team made the playoffs 10 times while based in Philadelphia, including two championship seasons, while they went without a postseason appearance in all 5 seasons while playing in Glens Falls, New York (Adirondack).
The last time the Phantoms made the playoffs, they made it all the way to the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals after taking down Providence and Charlotte in the prior rounds. They would lose in the third round in a four-game sweep to the Toronto Marlies, who went on to score their first Calder Cup victory over the Texas Stars.
Lehigh Valley has enjoyed a resurgent season after originally beginning the season in rather mediocre fashion. After the first 30 gmaes of the season, the Phantoms were 13-14-2-1 entering the New Year. They couldn’t find much consistency and lacked stability in their game, but they have rallied in the second half of the season and have put together something special.
The Flyers’ young guns and prospects have really led the way for the Phantoms this season. Tyson Foerster leads Lehigh Valley in points with 46 (20g, 26a), Elliot Desnoyers leads the team in goals (22), and Olle Lycksell leads the team in assists (31). Ronnie Attard has also stepped up with 11 goals and 19 assists for 30 points, in which he leads all Phantoms defensemen in those categories in his first full professional season.
Lehigh Valley has also received plenty of help from their veterans as well. Despite his whopping 171 penalty minutes, Garrett Wilson has chipped in with 39 points (17g, 22a), Artem Anisimov has racked up 35 (19g, 16a), and Adam Brooks has scored 32 (9g, 23a).
In goal, Samuel Ersson has been the star for this club. He has appeared in 39 games for the Phantoms, chalking up a 24-14-1 record, .905 save percentage, 2.67 goals against average, and 1 shutout. Ersson’s 24 wins rank 6th in the AHL, with a three-way tie for third sitting ahead of him by just one victory (Abbotsford’s Artūrs Šilovs, Springfield’s Joel Hofer, Milwaukee’s Yaroslav Askarov).
At the moment of this writing, the Phantoms sit third place in the Atlantic Division with 80 points. They hold the tiebreaker over the Springfield Thunderbirds and Charlotte Checkers, who each also have 80 points, respectively. With the new Calder Cup Playoffs format, the 3-seed in the Atlantic Division would face the 6-seed in the best-of-3 First Round, while the 4-seed would take on the 5-seed and the top 2 seeds receive byes into the Division Semifinals. If the Phantoms hold onto third place, they are slated to face the sixth-place Hartford Wolf Pack, who are one point behind Lehigh Valley, Springfield, and Charlotte.
All six postseason berths in the division have been clinched, with the Hershey Bears and Providence Bruins duking it out for the top spot in the Atlantic ahead of the other teams. The Bridgeport Islanders and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have been eliminated from playoff contention.
The Phantoms will now be gunning for their third Calder Cup championship in franchise history and first since moving to Allentown in 2014-15. The franchise previously won Calder Cups in 1998 and 2005 while playing out of The Spectrum as the Philadelphia Phantoms.
