Hagg shows his potential amid last shootout

PHILADELPHIA >> Unlike most of the other people in the Flyers’ dressing room, Robert Hagg still has hockey to play this season. The young defenseman is preparing to help lead the Phantoms into the Calder Cup playoffs, that AHL club’s first foray into the postseason after seven straight misses.

So Hagg, along with fellow Flyers (on this night) Anthony Stolarz and perhaps the Caldereligible Jordan Weal, still has a lot of important hockey to play. But along the way, he’ll remember playing in the last Flyers game of the season, which happened to be Hagg’s NHL debut.

“It was awesome. It’s a dream come true to come up here and play in the NHL and play one game,” Hagg said after the Flyers fell to Carolina in their finale in a Sunday night shootout, 4-3. “Right now I just want to go out there and play many more, but I have to wait for next season and see how it goes . ... But I had a lot of fun out there.”

Hagg, playing alternately with former Phantoms teammate Shayne Gostisbehere and rapidly rising blue line leader Ivan Provorov, turned in a steady performance with 21 minutes, 19 seconds of ice time. He also led the Flyers with five shots on goal, and blocked three shots.

In every sense, Hagg showed he should be considered come training camp when an anticipated audition for two defensive spots with the Flyers goes up for the best qualified Phantoms. That group would also include Travis Sanheim and Sam Morin, who had his one-game debut stint with the Flyers Tuesday in New Jersey, also playing to rave reviews.

Coach Dave Hakstol didn’t hesitate to praise Hagg in much the same way, saying he showed “solid, strong play.

“Confident player,” Hakstol added. “I thought he defended pretty well. It didn’t take him very long to settle in to the hockey game. He defended well, he moved well. I thought he supported the play really well. He showed real good confidence.

“So overall, it was a nice start for him.”

The Flyers didn’t start so well for this finishing game. Carolina’s Brock McGinn put the Hurricanes on the board 5:42 into the first. But then he got into a trading game with Dale Weise, whose stunning scoring resurrection (six goals since March 13) ended with him matching McGinn with two goals, putting the game at 2-2 at 10:58 of the third period.

Then at 12:05, Gostisbehere made a brilliant blue line move and darted on the attack, shoveling a shot that was blocked by Hurricanes goalie Eddie Lack ... only to see Wayne Simmonds jam home the rebound for his 31st goal of the season.

But Carolina’s Sebastian Aho slammed a slapshot that bounced off Stolarz (32 saves) and in to get the game even at 3-3.

It went down to the shootout, with retiring Bryan Bickell leading off with a goal. Claude Giroux got it back even, but McGinn then beat Stolarz at the end for the win.

“It’s a lot faster than the American League,” top Phantoms goalie Stolarz said. “It’s a lot of fun being here and I’ve just got to keep working hard, working on my game, and take everything that I’ve seen on video and just bring it back to Allentown for the rest of the year, and just continue working on my game this summer.”

Almost ironically, the Flyers (39-33-10, 88 points) had their probable summer drafting position fall a couple of spots just by getting into overtime. Had they lost in regulation, Carolina and Winnipeg would have finished ahead of them.

But tanking is for the NBA, not these guys.

“I think we had a lot of good things happening this year,” Giroux said. “We had a lot of ups and downs and lacked consistency, but at the same time we did a lot of good things. We played great at home, on the road not so well. But we have to go from this season and move forward.”

It’s likely they’ll do so next season with Stolarz as one of their goalies, pending unrestricted free agent Weal on board for good and at least two new Phantom promotees on the blue line. Then again, the offseason could present many intriguing twists and turns.

“We like the players in this room,” Giroux said. “A lot of character, a lot of guys doing the right things and we’re not far off. Everyone in this room cares for each other and goes out and plays for each other . ... But that’s obviously not my decision. We’ll see what happens.”

*** NOTES >> Awarded with his 31st healthy benching of the year was Roman Lyubimov, who is a pending restricted free agent and likely not to return. Also a healthy scratch was Chris VandeVelde, who is a pending unrestricted free agent. He had played in all 81 games before this one.

Bryan Bickell, leaving the game due to MS, put on a brave, two-thumbs up final performance.

Jordan Staal went out on a low note.

Lee Stempniak too.