By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
After the heroics of Alex Krushelnyski and Alex Lyon in a five-overtime thriller on Wednesday night/Thursday morning, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms closed out their trip to Charlotte still riding the wave of momentum.
Up 3-1 in the series entering Game 5 on Saturday night, the Phantoms put the finishing touches on the Charlotte Checkers, winning the game, 5-1, and claiming the series, 4-1.
The Phantoms opened the scoring in the first period as Corban Knight scored on a long shot through a screen to beat Alex Nedeljkovic.
Alex Lyon came up with some big saves late in the first and through the midpoint of the game in the second period, allowing the Phantoms to hold the 1-0 lead until they could add some breathing room.
Shortly after the Phantoms killed off what would be the only Charlotte power play in the game, Chris Conner scored on a breakaway to make it 2-0.
With just under three minutes left in the period, Tyrell Goulbourne added a goal as well to make it 3-0 with 20 minutes to play.
Through 40 minutes, the Phantoms had outshot the Checkers, 20-17.
Just over four minutes into the third period, the Phantoms essentially put the game on ice. Phil Myers scored with a point shot to make it 4-0.
Charlotte was finally able to solve Lyon just under two minutes later, as Roland McKeown scored to cut the lead to three. Just 1:20 later, the Phantoms restored the four-goal lead with Colin McDonald scoring the final goal of the game.
Lyon made 27 saves in the win. From Charlotte's only goal of Game 4 to their only goal of Game 5, Lyon had a shutout streak that lasted 165:54. Lyon stopped 184 of 188 shots from Charlotte in the series, a .979 save percentage, and had a 0.73 GAA in the series.
Nedeljkovic stopped 19 of 24 shots from the Phantoms.
The Phantoms now advance to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time since moving to Lehigh Valley and the first time in the franchise's history since the 2004-05 season, when the Philadelphia Phantoms took home the Calder Cup.
The Phantoms will face the Toronto Marlies in the Eastern Conference Final. Game 1 will be a 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 19. Game 2 will also be at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 20. The next three games shift to PPL Center. Game 3 will be Wednesday, May 23, Game 4 will be Friday, May 25 and Game 5 will be Saturday, May 26 if necessary. Games 6 and 7 will be Monday, May 28 and Wednesday, May 30 from Toronto if necessary.
