With the entirety of the best-of-three series played in Charlotte due to AHL travel bylaws, the Phantoms certainly faced an uphill battle. But they attacked it from the very beginning, stealing Game 1 on the strength of a strong second period and nearly doing the same thing in Game 2, which took nearly two full overtimes to decide. On several occasions the Phantoms were close to going into Charlotte and coming out with a two-game sweep. But the cruelty of a game that sometimes comes down to inches showed itself when Charlotte barely kept in a Phantoms clearing attempt, resulting in the play that was the game-winning goal.
But results aside, the thing about playoff hockey is this - there's no way to duplicate it. You can't practice it, you can't set it up in training camp, and what's on the line in the regular season almost never matches it.
So the experience that the Flyers' young prospects had in just those three games is invaluable. Tyson Foerster now knows what it takes to score twice in less than five minutes in a tie game as part of a three-goal run, and how much of a difference it makes in the way the rest of the game is played.
The group has now been down by two goals with less than 10 minutes left in a playoff game, only to score twice in 1:33 to force the proceedings to overtime, which happens in a pressure situation above and beyond that of a regular season game. Olle Lycksell has a multi-goal game under his belt, and Bobby Brink showed that even under those circumstances, he can go in on the forecheck and commit larceny that would have made Billy the Kid proud, taking a puck from an unsuspecting Charlotte defender and setting up Elliot Desnoyers for the equalizer, perhaps one of the biggest goals in his young areer.
And oh, that overtime. The first period was played like everything was on fire - end-to-end action, with save after save on both ends. Samuel Ersson was wizard-like, and right before Charlotte scored, he made a save that would have been a Sportscenter Top 10 highlight if the next shot hadn't gone in. But again, regardless of the outcome, playing a double-overtime playoff game is not something that can be done anywhere else. Now when these players hit that situation next time, perhaps in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, they will be immensely more prepared for the moment.
That's what it's all about, is building for the future. The hope is that it's bright for both the Flyers and the Phantoms, and this playoff run, however short, should help make it that way.
