Gendron Heats It up on Summery Night at PPL Center
February 16, 2025 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Lehigh Valley Phantoms News Release
Allentown, PA - Alexis Gendron (14th, 15th) was blazing hot just like the team's summertime theme as the 21-year-old winger seared two scorching shots into the net to drive a 4-2 win over the Syracuse Crunch on Saturday at PPL Center.
It might have been snowy and windy and kind of lousy outside. But inside fans were welcomed with a bright orange bucket hat giveaway and summer-style music with Jimmy and the Parrots on Margaritaville Night. Indeed, it was five o'clock somewhere, and it was a big hockey party for Lehigh Valley who won for a second time in a row as well as a fourth time in the last five.
Keith Petruzzelli came through with 16 saves to notch his first win with Lehigh Valley since arriving from the Reading Royals. And head coach Ian Laperriere had the thrill of defeating his childhood best friend for a second time this season. Laperriere and Syracuse head coach Joel Bouchard have been lifelong friends beginning when they played hockey and soccer together at just five years old.
Anthony Richard (9th) and Adam Ginning (2nd) with an empty netter also scored for Lehigh Valley against Brandon Halverson. Meanwhile, former Phantom Derrick Pouliot (7th) and Gage Goncalves (6th) scored the lone marks for the visiting Crunch who had a three-game point streak snapped.
But it was Gendron's impressive goals with his rapid release that drew the most praise. The young rookie, who spent the beginning part of last season with the Phantoms, is now tied with Jacob Gaucher for the team lead with 15 goals. The son of Flyers' Quebec-based amateur scout Martin Gendron has continued to impress head coach Ian Laperriere.
"Gendron has that gift," Laperriere said. "He shoots the puck like his Dad used to do in juniors when I played against him. And he's coachable. He was here some last year and he realized that he needs to do more than just score goals. He's coachable and he listens and he wants to get better. Just turned 21 and sky is the limit. Clean up some stuff and he has a chance to go to next level."
Lehigh Valley (24-18-6) improved to six games over .500 for the first time this season while continuing a perfect weekend with two wins in two games so far. The Phantoms look to put the finishing touches on a six-point weekend with Sunday's 3:05 p.m. matchup against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on meLVin's birthday at PPL Center.
The Phantoms' goals resulted in some strong puck pursuit frustrating the Crunch skaters.
Late in the first period, Garrett Wilson appeared to get a knock on a puck as Syracuse was trying to exit the zone and Massimo Rizzo broke up an exit. Gendron then stripped Pouliot of the puck and quickly stepped to the right circle to rifle home his first of the night dinging it off the post past Halverson for a 1-0 lead with 1:47 remaining in the first period.
Syracuse only had three shots on goal to that point but took advantage of a power play late in the period with Pouliot ripping it hope from the top of the right circle with just 22 seconds left in the frame to even the count at 1-1 heading into the intermission. Lehigh Valley outshot the Crunch by just a 6-4 margin in the first period. And the shots would be hard to acquire in the second period as well with the Phantoms holding a 6-5 shots advantage even though Syracuse had several stretches in the offensive zone. Lehigh Valley stayed with it and prevented the Crunch from getting anything too dangerous on net.
Rodrigo Abols got a piece of a puck along the left boards while he also paid the price with hard check that knocked him down. Too late! Anthony Richard cranked it up from the top of the left circle going bar-down past the right shoulder of Halverson with 4:16 left in the second period to put the Phantoms ahead 2-1 on a goal also assisted by Emil Andrae.
The Phantoms were clinging to their 2-1 lead through most of the third period which included two key penalty kills as well. In between the kills was Gendron's second of the game with Garrett Wilson connecting up ice to send Gendron and Rizzo rushing into the zone with a two-on-one. Gendron took the shot himself from the left dot beating Halverson five-hole while the Crunch goalie had to respect the possibility of the two young prospects connecting. Lehigh Valley led 3-1 with 6:30 left in the third period.
Garrett Wilson's assist was good for his 398th career pro point.
Syracuse had another power play after that and even pulled the goalie to set up a 6-on-4 but spent most of the time chasing after Lehigh Valley's long clears as the Phantoms continually intercepted any entires and had the advantage of the free icing as well affording them the option of going for the long empty-net try.
Gage Goncalves eventually broke through with a 6-o-5 goal with 1:15 left shooting from the left circle to the far post past the glove of Petruzzelli to pull the Crunch to within a goal at 3-2.
But the Phantoms finished the night with Ginning slamming home an empty netter with 48 seconds remaining after Oscar Eklind's effort from the red line missed wide. Ginning was right there to pounce on the ricochet off the endboards to cap the night.
The Phantoms wrap up the weekend on Sunday at 3:05 p.m. against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins with meLVin celebrating his birthday with all his mascot friends.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st 18:13 - LV, A. Gendron (14) (Unassisted) (1-0)
1st 19:38 - SYR, D. Pouliot (C. Geekie, G. Goncalves) (PP) (1-1)
2nd 15:44 - LV, A. Richard (9) (R. Abols, E. Andrae) (2-1)
3rd 13:30 - LV, A. Gendron (15) (G. Wilson, L. Belpedio) (3-1)
3rd 18:45 - SYR, G. Goncalves (5) (M. Crozeri, D. Pouliot) (3-2)
3rd 19:12 - LV, A. Ginning (2) (O. Eklind, O. Lycksell) (EN) (4-2)
Shots:
LV 22 - SYR 18
PP:
LV 0/1, SYR 1/4
Goaltenders:
LV - K. Petruzzelli (W) (1-2-0) (16/18)
SYR - B. Halverson (L) (12-8-7) (18/21)
Records:
Lehigh Valley (24-18-6)
Syracuse (20-17-11)
UPCOMING
Sunday, February 16 (3:05) - W-B/Scranton Penguins at Phantoms - meLVin's Birthday with his mascot friends!
Wednesday, February 19 (7:00) - Phantoms at Grand Rapids Griffins
Friday, February 21 (7:00) - Phantoms at Grand Rapids Griffins
Saturday, February 22 (8:00) - Phantoms at Rockford IceHogs
Tuesday, February 25 (8:00) - Phantoms at Milwaukee Admirals
Friday, February 28 (7:05) - Bridgeport Islanders at Phantoms - Hockey is For Everyone!
Saturday, March 1 (7:05) - Bridgeport Islanders at Phantoms - Mardi Gras Celebration!
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