Phantoms Power Play Presented by Provident Bank
Blackout Night Friday!
January 6, 2025
Allentown, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms opened 2025 with a pair of road wins in snowy central New York and look to keep it going as they return to Pennsylvania this week. The Phantoms have won three of their last four and are also 6-3-0 in their last nine games.
Lehigh Valley (15-13-5) has solidified its hold on fifth place in the Atlantic Division opening a cushion ahead of sixth-place Hartford whom the Phantoms play twice this weekend as part of a busy week with four games including three on the road.
The first home game of 2025 is Friday against the Hartford Wolf Pack on a Blackout Night at PPL Center. Fans are encouraged to wear black while also receiving blackout knit caps from The Morning Call as the team dons its snazzy blackout uniforms for the first time this season.
LAST WEEK
January 3 – Phantoms 4 at Utica Comets 2
January 4 – Phantoms 3 at Syracuse Crunch 2 (OT)
THE WEEK AHEAD
Tuesday, January 7 (7:00) – Phantoms at Hershey Bears
Friday, January 10 (7:05) – Hartford Wolf Pack at Phantoms
Saturday, January 11 (7:05) – Phantoms at Hartford Wolf Pack
Sunday, January 12 (5:05) – Phantoms at Bridgeport Islanders
WEEKLY RECAP
Friday, January 3, 2025
Phantoms 4 – Utica Comets 2
J.R. Avon (4th) smacked home the winning goal almost midway through the period breaking a 2-2 tie off a nifty assist from behind the goal by Massimo Rizzo as the Phantoms opened 2025 with a W in the form of a 4-2 decision at Utica. Rodrigo Abols (8th) and Alexis Gendron (9th) scored consecutive goals in the second period just 26 seconds apart to give Lehigh Valley a 2-1 lead. Adam Ginning (1st) scored an empty-netter from the blueline with seconds remaining to seal the win. Cal Petersen had 20 saves including 10 in the third period to repel Utica’s desperation push.
Saturday, January 4, 2025
Phantoms 3 – Syracuse Crunch 2 (OT)
Overtime is Phantoms-Time! Lehigh Valley picked up its league-leading seventh overtime win of the season on Brendan Furry’s backhand flip past Brandon Halverson in a 3-2 triumph at Syracuse. Louie Belpdio’s intercept at center set up the Furry winning strike. Alexis Gendron (10th) and Helge Grans (4th) scored against the league’s top goaltender and top defense as part of a dominating first period in which the Phantoms raced out to a 2-0 lead via a 15-4 shots advantage. But the Crunch pushed back to extend their home point streak to eight games and eventually tied the contest with 16.1 seconds left on Gabe Fortier’s knock at the net-front past a solid Parker Gahagen (3-1-1) who secured the win.
MEDIA MATERIALS – Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for upcoming games at the following link: https://www.phantomshockey.com/media-materials/
TRANSACTIONS –
Dec 29 Sawyer Boulton – Add – Recalled from Reading
Jan 2 Xavier Bernard – Add – Recalled from Reading
Jan 2 Mason Primeau – Add – Recalled from Reading
OVERTIME IS PHANTOMS-TIME – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms lead the AHL with seven overtime wins and 13 overtime games this season. Lehigh Valley is 7-4 in overtime decisions and 1-1 in shootouts. Olle Lycksell has scored three overtime winners to lead the AHL. Other overtime goal-scorers for the Phantoms include Rhett Gardner, Samu Tuomaala, Louie Belpedio and Brendan Furry.
The Phantoms have won their last three straight overtime games and are 5-1 in overtimes dating back to Samu Tuomaala’s winner at Hartford on November 27. The Phantoms are also 7-2 in their last nine OT games since November 9 against Utica.
The franchise record for most overtime wins in a season is eight which has happened twice including last year in 2023-24 and also by the Philadelphia Phantoms in 2005-06.
PHANTASTIC –
– The Phantoms have won two straight to open 2025 and have also won three of their last four and are also 6-3-0 in their last nine games to take sole possession of fifth place in the Atlantic Division while closing the gap on the Top 4.
– Rodrigo Abols has a three-game point streak (2-1-3) and has five goals in the last 10 games.
– Alexis Gendron is on a two-game goal streak and has three goals in the last four games and also four goals in the last seven. He turned 21 years old on December 30.
– The Phantoms will hit the midway mark of the season this weekend. After Saturday’s game at Hartford, the Phantoms will have played 36 games and will have 36 to go.
– Lehigh Valley leads the AHL with 12 overtime games and six overtime wins. The Phantoms are 6-4 in overtime decisions and 1-1 in shootouts. The Phantoms have now played five straight games without an overtime which is their longest stretch of the season.
– Lehigh Valley is second in the AHL in one-goal games with 21 trailing only Hershey. The Phantoms are 11-5-5 in the one-goal squeakers including 7-0-2 at home in one-goal games.
IMPENDING MILESTONES
– Jacob Gaucher, 99 pro points
– Helge Grans, 199 AHL games
– Rhett Gardner, 298 AHL games
UPCOMING
Tuesday, January 7, 2025 (7:00)
GIANT Center, Hershey, PA
Phantoms at Hershey Bears
Hershey (21-10-3) has been trying to shake off its holiday slumber in which the Bears dropped four out of five games and have now won two straight to hang on to the top spot in the division. Injuries have hurt the club and the normally stingy defense is surrendering 2.8 goals per game, 13th in the AHL. But the two-time defending Calder Cup Champs have the conference’s top goal-scorer in Ethen Frank (20-8-28) who scored the late winner against the Phantoms on December 8 in a 5-4 final in the most recent meeting. Veteran center Mike Sgarbossa (5-21-26) is producing at over a point-per-game and former Phantom Mike Vecchione (5-13-18) has been a steady presence. The Phantoms are 2-2-1 against Hershey entering the sixth of 10 meetings this season. Lehigh Valley’s most recent against the Bears was November 30 on Olle Lycksell’s overtime winner at PPL Center.
Friday, January 10, 2025 (7:05)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Hartford Wolf Pack at Phantoms
and
Saturday, January 11, 2025 (7:05)
XL Center, Hartford, CT
Phantoms at Hartford Wolf Pack
Hartford (15-14-3) has had inconsistent play under first-year head coach Grant Potulny but remains close behind the Phantoms in the Atlantic Division standings entering this important home-and-home weekend series. The Wolf Pack have sometimes been all-or-nothing and recently followed up an impressive 7-0 New Year’s Eve thrashing of Springfield with a humbling 5-0 loss at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and then bounced back with a 5-1 win vs. Bridgeport on Sunday.
All three previous meetings between the Phantoms and Wolf Pack have gone to overtime and Lehigh Valley is 2-0-1 against Hartford. Lehigh Valley won in a shootout at PPL Center on Opening Night on October 12 in a rough-and-tumble and chippy affair. Samu Tuomaala scored the overtime-winning goal at Hartford on November 27 in the most recent encounter.
33-year-old veteran Alex Belzile (10-21-31) leads the offense in his second year with the team following five seasons with Laval and Montreal. Former Anaheim first-rounder Bo Groulx (11-18-29) had an overtime winner against the Phantoms on October 25 at Hartford. Rangers second-rounder Adam Sykora (6-12-18) is in his third pro season and first-rounder Brennan Othmann (3-5-8) recently returned from injury that had him on the shelf for two months.
Sunday, January 12, 2025 (5:05)
Total Mortgage Arena, Bridgeport, CT
Phantoms at Bridgeport Islanders
It’s been a struggle for last-place Bridgeport (7-21-4) who broke out of a nine-game losing skid before the holiday break. The B-Isles just lost on Sunday to Hartford 5-1 which was a franchise record 12th straight home game without a win as well as their eighth straight home regulation loss. But Rick Kowalsky’s team always puts up a good fight and gives opponents a tough battle even though the Islanders are surrendering a league-worst 4.0 goals per game. Former Hershey Bear Brian Pinho (16-9-25) is in his second year with the Islanders and had an impressive six-game goal streak early in the season. 35-year-old scoring great Chris Terry (4-21-25) and has scored 315-450-765 lifetime in the AHL. Terry is the active career scoring leader in the AHL and rates 19th all-time in points and 17th all-time in goals. 31-year-old captain Cole Bardreau (3-6-9) is in his sixth season with Bridgeport following five years with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms from 2014-15 through 2018-19 where he played 226 games scoring 41 goals and 98 points.
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
x – Olle Lycksell 9-15-24
Samu Tuomaala 8-15-23
Jacob Gaucher 13-9-22
Rodrigo Abols 8-8-16
Anthony Richard 6-10-16
Alexis Gendron 10-5-15
Oscar Eklind 4-11-15
UPCOMING
Tuesday, January 7 (7:00) – Phantoms at Hershey Bears
Friday, January 10 (7:05) – Hartford Wolf Pack at Phantoms – Blackout Knit Caps from The Morning Call
Saturday, January 11 (7:05) – Phantoms at Hartford Wolf Pack
Sunday, January 12 (5:00) – Phantoms at Bridgeport Islanders
Wednesday, January 15 (7:05) – Phantoms vs. Belleville Senators, Pregame Happy Hour, $2 Beers
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