The National Hockey League announced today that Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds is one of three finalists for the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award. 

The award is presented "to the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice, during the regular season and who plays a leading role in his community growing the game of hockey."

Defenseman Deryk Engelland of the Vegas Golden Knights and right wing Blake Wheeler of the Winnipeg Jets are the other two finalists. 

Simmonds recorded his fifth straight 20-goal season and propelled the Flyers to a 42-26-14 record and berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He finished his seventh season with the Flyers, posting 24 goals and 46 points in 75 regular season games, including five game-winning goals. He also led the team with 11 power-play goals.

In the community, he hosted a different military unit in a private suite during every other home game, meeting each group at the end of the evening. 

For the most part, the Philadelphia Flyers' 2017-18 campaign was a success. The team had a 10-point improvement in the regular season, returned to the playoffs after failing to qualify the previous year, and stretched the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins to six games in the playoffs on sheer grit and resiliency. Even so, not everything that was hoped for entering the season came to fruition. 

Here's a look at four things that went right this season and four things that could be improved upon next year.

The Philadelphia Flyers announced today they have loaned forward Oskar Lindblom and defenseman Travis Sanheim to their AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Both players will join the Phantoms for their Round 1 series in the Calder Cup Playoffs against the Providence Bruins. 

The series is currently tied, 1-1, with the Phantoms winning the first game and Providence earning a win in Game 2. The Phantoms own home ice advantage in the series with Lehigh Valley set to host Games 3, 4 and 5 (if necessary). Game 3 is Friday, Apr. 27 (7:00 p.m.).

Lindblom returns to the Phantoms for the first time since being recalled on Feb. 19. He made his NHL debut on Feb. 20 vs. Montreal. As a rookie, he posted six points (2g-4a) to go along with a plus-4 rating while averaging 14:35 of ice time in 23 regular season games for the Flyers. He also appeared in four of the six contests in the Flyers' First Round series vs. Pittsburgh where he went scoreless and averaged 10:38 of ice time.

HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED
Sean Couturier nets a hat trick and five-point game, but so did Jake Guentzel who had four goals and led the Penguins to an 8-5 win in Game 6 to end the First Round Series at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday.

Couturier helped the Flyers to a 2-2 tie after the first, and 4-4 stalemate after the second period with Scott Laughton and Andrew MacDonald also providing goals. Guentzel netted four straight goals and added an assist, while Kris Letang, Patric Hornqvist and Sidney Crosby all recorded three points for the Penguins.

Matt Murray stopped 21 of 26 shots, while Michal Neuvirth allowed seven goals on 28 shots in the loss.

Philadelphia Flyers (2-3) vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (3-2)

ROUND 1 - GAME 6: Pittsburgh Leads Series, 3-2

at Wells Fargo Center | Philadelphia, PA

TIME: 3:00 p.m. | TV: NBC | RADIO: 97.5 The Fanatic

presented by The Rothman Institute at Jefferson Hospital

QUICK STATS

Regular Season Series: 0-2-2

Playoff All-Time Record: 

Games: 40gp (21-19)

Series: 6 Series (4 wins, 2 losses)

Leading Scorers:

PHI: 4-pts, Sean Couturier (2g-2a)

PIT: 10-pts, Sidney Crosby (5g-5a)

The Flyers are nothing if not a resilient, tight-knit hockey team that is used to battling back in the face of adversity. That trait never served the club better than it did on Friday, as the team gritted out a 4-2 road win over the Pittsburgh Penguins to bring their playoff series back to the Wells Fargo Center for Game 6 on Sunday. 

"Obviously the result was good, but I think every line played well. There was a lot of speed," said captain Claude Giroux. "Funny how it's just one game and guys can find chemistry quick like that... We need to have a good first period like we did in Game 3 and we can go from there." 

The work has just begun in the quest to push the defending two-time Stanley Cup champions to a deciding seventh game on Tuesday. The Flyers know that, and they know they will be the underdogs right until the final buzzer of the series.

In several key ways -- too much time spent killing penalties, tough sledding in the second and third periods after a strong first period, a 2-1 deficit in the second period on two goals they'd like to have had back, losing Ivan Provorov (30:07 TOI) for the final 5-on-6 defense of a narrow lead -- the Flyers' Game Five victory hardly followed the blueprint of getting the series back to Philadelphia for a Game Six. 

All that matters, though, is the Flyers are still alive coming back home. Just as important, there were elements the Flyers can build upon heading into Game Six.

HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED
A gutsy effort from Sean Couturier, as well as the game-winning goal with 1:15 left in regulation, gave the Flyers life in a 4-2 win in Game 5 on Friday night in Pittsburgh. The win forces a Sunday matinee at the Wells Fargo Center for Game 6.

Claude Giroux scored his first goal of the playoffs with 2:31 left in the first period to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead, but Pittsburgh pulled ahead in the second on goals by Bryan Rust with 8:00 left and Jake Guentzel with 3:15 to play.  

But with 1:45 left in the frame, Valtteri Filppula stemmed Pittsburgh's momentum with a shorthanded goal, sending the game to the second intermission tied at 2-2. That set the stage for Couturier's heroics, and Matt Read finished things off with a late empty-netter. 

Michal Neuvirth made 30 saves to pick up the win, while Matt Murray stopped 21 in the loss. 

The National Hockey League today announced that the starting time of Game 6 of the First Round series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers has been set for 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 22, in Philadelphia. The game will be broadcast exclusively on NBC in the U.S. In Canada, the game will be on CBC and TVA Sports.

Great seats are available for Game Six HERE.

The Flyers will need a Herculean team effort on the road in Game 5 of their playoff series with the Pittsburgh Penguins to bring the series back to Philadelphia for a Game 6 on Sunday. All at once, the mission is straightforward to spell on paper and extremely challenging to execute on the ice. 

It is not impossible, though. With or without Sean Couturier in the lineup, the keys to a Flyers' win in Game 5 remain the same...

Philadelphia Flyers (1-3) at Pittsburgh Penguins (3-1)

ROUND 1 - GAME 5: Pittsburgh Leads Series, 3-1

at PPG Paints Arena | Pittsburgh, PA

TIME: 7:00 p.m. | TV: NBCSP | RADIO: 97.5 The Fanatic

presented by The Rothman Institute at Jefferson Hospital

QUICK STATS

Regular Season Series: 0-2-2

Playoff All-Time Record: 

Games: 39gp (20-19)

Series: 6 Series (4 wins, 2 losses)

Leading Scorers:

PHI: 3-pts, Sean Couturier (1g-2a)

PIT: 9-pts, Sidney Crosby (5g-4a)