Phantoms Playoff Practice Update 4/18/18
ALLENTOWN - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms continued to prepare for their opening round best-of-five playoff series against Providence Wednesday morning, and did so with a nearly full roster of active participants - working on primarily special teams to get ready for the Bruins.
"It doesn't matter who you play, you have to have good special teams," Scott Gordon said. "Since probably the second half [of the season], both our penalty kill and power play have done well. I think overall we've been pleased with the progress we made throughout the second half of the season."
Inside AHL Hockey caught up with Colin McDonald, Phil Varone, Sam Morin and head coach Scott Gordon after practice and there will be plenty more coming your way this week as Friday's Game 1 approaches, but for now some quick updates on what has turned into an extended six-hour lunch break:
Injured defensemen Sam Morin, Phil Myers and James de Haas were all full participants in practice while injured forward Mikhail Vorobyev joined the team in a limited capacity wearing a non-contact yellow jersey.
For Morin, who has been out since January 20th's Outdoor Classic in Hershey, he's eager to return to the Phantoms' lineup and Gordon referred to his status as "encouraging" in regards to returning to the lineup. Morin was paired primarily with Reece Willcox in practice Wednesday.
Phil Myers has ditched the walking boot he was seen wearing in the past few weeks, and was also a full participant - skating on defense routinely with James de Haas.
The only bodies missing from practice were Anthony Stolarz and Radel Fazleev, the latter of which was said to have been absent due to illness.
With Fazleev absent, the lines used Wednesday suggest that Isaac Ratcliffe might be in the team's Game 1 lineup. Ratcliffe wore a dark blue jersey and skated alongside Corban Knight and Chris Conner.
"I think we had on our board I want to say eight guys as of last week that were not in the lineup because of injury," Gordon said, adding, "That number is diminishing It's been a bit of timeliness for some of them and a bit of unexpected recoveries that are going to allow us to use some of those guys and it's important because the playoffs are a grind and you're going to get your injuries. To go into the playoffs limping is not the way you want to attack it. Obviously, we are encouraged by the fact that we have those guys coming back."
Practice lines:
Greg Carey - Phil Varone - Alex Krushelnyski Danick Martel - Mike Vecchione - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Tyrell Goulbourne - Cole Bardreau - Colin McDonald Isaac Ratcliffe - Corban Knight - Chris Conner
T.J. Brennan - Mark Friedman Will O'Neill - Max Lamarche Sam Morin - Reece Willcox James de Haas - Phil Myers David Drake
Alex Lyon - Dustin Tokarski
