PREVIEW: Phantoms at Thunderbirds, Game #8
Lehigh Valley Phantoms (2-3-2) at Springfield Thunderbirds (3-6-0)
MassMutual Center, Springfield, MA
Saturday, November 2, 2024 (7:05 p.m.) – Game #8
TONIGHT – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (2-3-2) continue a three-game road stretch with a visit to Springfield, Mass to take on the Thunderbirds. Tonight’s contest is the first of four games between the Atlantic Division foes. Springfield (3-6-0) is the AHL affiliate of the St. Louis Blues. The Phantoms will return to western Mass in two weeks for their final Springfield appearance.
LAST TIME –Jacob Gaucher scored from a sharp angle with just 11 minutes remaining and Cal Petersen knocked away 29 of 30 shots as the Phantoms downed the defending champion Hershey Bears on Wednesday night 2-1. Helge Grans opened the scoring for Lehigh Valley pushing his way to the net to accept a feed from behind the goal by Anthony Richard. But Jake Massie’s knuckle-puck off the crossbar later in the first period evened the score for the Bears. Oscar Eklind started the game-winning sequence with an interception to send the Phantoms pushing into the Hershey zone where Zayde Wisdom connected with Gaucher who snapped his winning shot from the bottom of the right circle and past the shoulder of goaltender Hunter Shepard.
100 WINS – Wednesday’s victory at Hershey was the 100th coaching win for Ian Laperriere making him just the fourth Phantoms coach to achieve the milestone.
Phantoms Franchise – Career Coaching Wins
John Stevens – 230 (2000-2006)
Bill Barber – 187 (1996-2000)
Scott Gordon – 186 (2015-21)
Ian Laperriere – 100 (2021- Present)
MEDIA MATERIALS – Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for both teams and the AHL at the following link.
https://www.phantomshockey.com/media-materials/
GETTING THE CALL – Alexei Kolosov was recalled to the Philadelphia Flyers and made his NHL debut on Sunday night in a 4-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. Kolosov became the first Phantoms product to make his NHL debut this year and is also the 45th Lehigh Valley player and seventh goaltender to do so.
Phantoms Goalies Making NHL Debut with Flyers
Rob Zepp – Dec 21, 2014 (PHI vs. WPG)
Anthony Stolarz – Nov 27, 2016 (PHI vs. CGY)
Alex Lyon – Jan 31, 2018 (PHI at WSH)
Carter Hart – Dec 18, 2018 (PHI vs. DET)
Felix Sandstrom – Dec 30, 2021 (PHI at SJ)
Sam Ersson – Dec 23, 2022 (PHI at CAR)
Alexei Kolosov – Oct 27, 2024 (PHI vs. MTL)
PHANTASTIC
– Lehigh Valley picked up its first road win of the season on Wednesday and also scored the first goal of the game for the first time this year.
– Jacob Gaucher’s third goal of the season moved him into a tie with Anthony Richard for most on the team.
– The Phantoms lead the AHL with 37.6 shots per game. The Phantoms are second in the AHL and first in the conference with 25.4 shots allowed per contest.
– Lehigh Valley is 25.0% on the power play (6/24) which is tied for second in the AHL with Toronto and Milwaukee while trailing only Charlotte (38.7%).
– The Phantoms have produced perfect penalty kills in four of the last five games including holding Hershey to 0-for-5 on Wednesday. Opponents are just 2-for-18 in that stretch.
– The Phantoms are third in the AHL with 35.3 shots per game trailing only Rochester (37.2)
SWINGING BY SPRINGFIELD – It’s the first of four matchups between the Atlantic Division foes as the Phantoms travel to western Mass. The St. Louis Blues affiliate ended a three-game losing slide with a 5-2 pasting of Hartford on Sunday but couldn’t keep the momentum going as the T-Birds dropped a 4-1 decision against the Bridgeport Islanders on Friday night.
Springfield (3-6-0) is led by new head coach Steve Konowalchuk who previously played in 790 career NHL games for Washington and Colorado. 19-year-old Slovakia product Dalibor Dvorsky (4-2-6) was the 10th overall selection in the 2023 NHL Draft. Rookie Dylan Peterson (4-2-6) was a third-rounder out of Boston University and leads the team in scoring. 20-year-old third-rounder Aleksanteri Kaskimaki from Finland is still in search of his first career goal in North America. 31-year-old veteran Matthew Peca is in his fourth season with the T-Birds and his second as captain and has played in 420 career AHL games beginning in 2016-17 with Syracuse as well as 83 NHL games.
The former Springfield Indians are the only team to win three consecutive Calder Cups when they took titles in 1960, 1961, and 1962. A founding member of the league in 1936, Springfield has won seven Calder Cups including most recently in 1990 and 1991.
IT ALL STARTED IN SPRINGRFIELD – Daniel Briere starred with the Springfield Falcons in his professional rookie 1997-98 season at just 20 years old winning the Red Garrett Memorial Award as the top rookie in the AHL after racking up 36-56-92 to place fourth in the league in scoring. Briere spent parts of four seasons with Springfield bouncing between the Falcons and parent Phoenix Coyotes before finally earning a full-time spot in the NHL in his All-Star career of 973 games with 696 points plus 116 postseason points in 124 Stanley Cup playoff games. An immensely popular player in his time with Springfield, Briere accumulated 88 goals with 129 assists for 217 points with the Springfield Falcons in 169 games played from 1997-2001.
SCORING LEADERS
Lehigh Valley
Samu Tuomaala 2-4-6
Anthony Richard 3-3-6
Jacob Gaucher 3-2-5
Rodrigo Abols 2-2-4
Oscar Eklind 2-1-3
Springfield
Dylan Peterson 4-2-6
Dalibor Dvorsky 4-2-6
Marcus Sylvegard 2-3-5
Corey Schueneman 1-4-5
Special Teams:
Lehigh Valley – PP 25.0%, 2nd (6/24) / PK 81.8%, 19th
Springfield – PP 6.3%, 31st (2/32) / PK 78.9%, 24th
COMING UP – The Phantoms conclude their three-game road-swing at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Wednesday, November 6.
Lehigh Valley’s next home games are Friday, November 8 against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Saturday, November 9 taking on the Utica Comets featuring a Postgame Skate with the Phantoms players presented by NJM Insurance.
UPCOMING
Saturday, November 2 – Phantoms at Springfield Thunderbirds
Wednesday, November 6 – Phantoms at W-B/Scranton Penguins
Friday, November 8 – W-B/Scranton Penguins at Phantoms – Berks Dollar Dogs
Saturday, November 9 – Utica Comets at Phantoms – Postgame Skate with Players presented by NJM Insuranace.
Wednesday, November 13 – W-B/Scranton Penguins at Phantoms – Military Appreciation Night presented by Netizen
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