Now, with three games remaining in the regular season, the Phantoms control their own destiny in terms of potentially obtaining home-ice advantage in the first round of the Calder Cup. If the season ended today, the Phantoms would be a home-ice club in Game 1 and Game 3 (if necessary) of their series.
The format of the AHL's Calder Cup Playoffs works differently than the NHL's Stanley Cup Playoffs. In the Eastern Conference, the top six finishers in the Atlantic Division (eight teams) all qualify for postseason play, as do the top five finishers in the North Division (seven teams). In the Western Conference, the top five teams in the Central Division (seven teams) qualify, along with the top seven finishers in the Pacific Division (10 teams).
We;ll focus on the Atlantic Division. The first-place (currently the Hershey Bears, 95 points) and second-place (Providence Bruins, 94 points) will get a first-round bye into the best-of-five second round (Atlantic Division semifinals).
In the meantime, the third-place to sixth-place teams will play a best-of-three first-round series in order to advance to the Atlantic Division semis. If the season ended today, the third-place Phantoms would play the sixth-place Hartford Wolf Pack and the fourth-place Springfield Thunderbirds would play the fifth-place Charlotte Checkers. The Phantoms and Springfield would hold home-ice advantage in their respective best-of-three series.
There is not longer a question of which teams will make the playoffs in the Atlantic: the seventh-place Bridgeport Islanders and last-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have been eliminated. However, the final standings order and corresponding first-round playoff matchups (with home-ice advantage at stake) are still very much up for grabs.
Entering the final week of the 2022-23 AHL regular season, the Phantoms (80 points, 27 regulation wins) are in a standings points tie with Springfield (80 points, 26 regulation wins) and Charlotte (80 points, 25 regulation wins). The Phantoms hold third place via the regulation wins tiebreaker.
Lehigh Valley, Springfield and Charlotte each have three games remaining on their respective schedules.Hartford (79 points but 27 regulation wins) has two remaining games and could still potentially finish third or fourth.
Remaining games: The Phantoms are on the road on Wednesday to play Bridgeport. On Friday, the Phantoms host Charlotte. The regular season wraps up on Saturday with a road game in Hershey against the first-place Bears.
Springfield concludes the regular season with a weekend three-in-three gauntlet: home against second-place Providence on Friday, home against sixth-place Hartford on Saturday, and on the road against Providence on Sunday. Charlotte is on the road in Pennsylvania all week to play in Hershey on Tuesday, in Allentown against the Phantoms on Friday and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton against the Penguins on Saturday.
The higher-ranked winner of the first-round best-of-three will play the regular-season second-place team (currently Providence) in the best-of-five Atlantic Division semifinals. The lower-ranked winner from the first round will draw the first-place team (presently Hershey).
The third round of the playoffs, the Division Final, is another best-of-five series. Subsequently, the Eastern/Western Conference Finals and Calder Cup Finals are best-of-seven series.
