It took 94 saves to pull off AHL playoff shocker

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms and the Charlotte Checkers played the longest game in American Hockey League history on Wednesday night, and the better team likely lost because of a historic goalie performance.

Phantoms goalie Alex Lyon made an incredible 94 saves in a 2-1 five-overtime win in Game 4 of the Calder Cup playoff series between the AHL affiliates of the Flyers and Hurricanes.

The quintuple-overtime win saw 86:48 played in extra time. Alex Krushelnyski scored the game-winner as the Phantoms took a 3-1 lead in the second-round series.

Lyon, 25, saw some NHL action for the first time in his career this season. He appeared in 11 games for the Flyers, going 4-2-1 with a .905 save percentage.

Charlotte outshot Lehigh, 94-53, including 54-29 in the overtime periods, but Lyon was the difference.

“That was pretty crazy, right?” Charlotte coach Mike Vellucci said after the game. “We outshot them 2-1 and outchanced them 2-1, so what are you going to do? You give it all you’ve got, and their goalie played absolutely unbelievable and Ned played really well for us. Guys were gassed, you saw it. It was pretty crazy. I don’t even know how many overtimes we went. They gave it all they had, so that’s all you could ask.”