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AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms

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November 7, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Lehigh Valley Phantoms News Release


Lehigh Valley Phantoms forward Samu Tuomaala
Lehigh Valley Phantoms forward Samu Tuomaala
(Lehigh Valley Phantoms)

Lehigh Valley, PA - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (4-4-2) are coming off an exciting week with three consecutive overtime contests as they prepare for a Wednesday morning rematch at Springfield followed by a home-and-home series in a pair of games against the rival Hershey Bears.

Lehigh Valley's lone home game this week is on Saturday night against Hershey. It is also the last home game for the Phantoms in almost two weeks.

WEEKLY RECAP

Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Bears 4 - Phantoms 3 (OT)

J.R. Avon's first career pro goal tied the game with just 4:53 remaining but the Hershey Bears pounced on a turnover for a breakaway winning goal for Chase Priskie. Felix Sandstrom made his first appearance of the season between the pipes on a conditioning loan from the Flyers. Olle Lycksell and Adam Ginning also scored goals for the Phantoms in the team's first overtime game of the season. Former Phantom Nicolas Aube-Kubel scored a goal and an assist against his ex-team.

Friday, November 3, 2023

Phantoms 5 - Wolf Pack 4 (OT)

The Swifties took over PPL Center and the Phantoms took care of the Hartford Wolf Pack on Samu Tuomaala's overtime winner from Elliot Desnoyers to cap an exciting night in front of a huge house of Taylor Swift fanatics at PPL Center. The 20-year-old Tuomaala achieved his first career three-point game with one goal and two assists and Olle Lycksell scored his team-leading eighth of the season. J.R. Avon scored for a second consecutive game. Rhett Gardner's deflection of a Will Zmolek shot with about 13 minutes left was the tying tally at 4-4 to eventually force the overtime session. Parker Gahagen took over in goal for an injured Felix Sandstrom and racked up 23 saves on his way to an impressive relief win.

Saturday, November 4, 2023

Thunderbirds 3 - Phantoms 2 (OT)

The Phantoms disagreed with an overtime penalty that provided the host T-Birds with their sixth power-play of the night and second in the extra session. Dylan Coghlan's drive beat Parker Gahagen for the game-winner. It was Coghlan's second goal of the game. Garrett Wilson scored his second of the season in the opening minutes and Brendan Furry scored on the rush on a lead pass from Cooper Marody for his first of the year. The Phantoms never trailed in the entire game until the deciding tally in Lehigh Valley's third consecutive overtime contest.

LOUIE LOUIE

27-year-old defenseman had not played in the NHL in 2.5 years and only had four career games to his credit. The Miami (Ohio) product had spent almost his entire career in the AHL with the Iowa Wild and Lehigh Valley Phantoms totaling over 300 games. But opportunity came knocking for Belpedio who has now played in six more consecutive games in the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers following a recall to get another look. Last Thursday, Belpedio scored his first career NHL goal in Philadelphia's 5-1 victory a Buffalo. Way to go, Louie!

TRANSACTIONS

Nov 2 - Delete Cal Petersen (G) - Recalled to PHI

Nov 2 - Add Parker Gahagen (G) - Recalled to LV from Reading

Nov 2 - Add Darren Brady (D) - Recalled to LV from Reading

Nov 4 - Add Nolan Maier (G) - Recalled to LV from Reading

Nov 5 - Delete Felix Sandstrom (G) - Recalled to PHI, placed on IR

Nov 6 - Delete Darren Brady (D) - Loaned to Reading

Nov 6 - Delete Jacob Gaucher (F) - Loaned to Reading

PHANTASTIC!

Lehigh Valley is on a three-game point streak. The three overtime games is second-most in the AHL trailing only Rochester which has five.

20-year-old rookie Samu Tuomaala had four points on the weekend including the overtime goal on Friday and three assists in the Friday and Saturday games combined. He also moved into a three-way tie for the league lead in points

J.R. Avon recorded his first two professional goals in back-to-back games last week

Olle Lycksell (8-0-8) is one off the league lead for goals. Lycksell's four power-play goals rates second in the AHL. He has eight total goals in the last eight games beginning with his October 20 hat trick at Springfield.

Lehigh Valley is second in the AHL with three shorthanded goals. The Phantoms scored all three in the same game on October 15 against Belleville to tie a franchise record

The Phantoms offense is alive in the second period with an AHL-leading 121 shots on goal

The Phantoms are 3-0-0 when allowing two goals or fewer

UPCOMING

Wednesday, November 8, 2023 (10:35 a.m.)

MassMutual Center, Springfield, MA

Phantoms at Springfield Thunderbirds

Rise and Shine for an unusual morning start in Western Mass!

It is also the second consecutive game for the Phantoms at Springfield's MassMutual Center.

Springfield (6-5-0) had its five-game win streak snapped on Sunday in a 3-2 loss at the Bridgeport Islanders. Their streak was a nice bounce-back from a lousy 0-for-3 weekend October 20-22 in which they lost two of their three games against the Phantoms.

The Phantoms are 2-0-1 against the T-Birds entering the fourth of six meetings this season which is also Lehigh Valley's final visit to Western Mass this year. Olle Lycksell had a hat trick at Springfield on October 20 in a 5-2 win.

Adam Gaudette is in a three-way tie for the AHL lead with nine goals which includes three against the Phantoms. He is also just one ahead of Olle Lycksell. Feisty Australian Nathan Walker (8-7-15) had a hat trick against the Phantoms two seasons ago and, more recently, the talented 29-year-old recorded a pair of two-goal games last weekend for four total goals in the more recent three outings. 30-year-old Matthew Peca (2-10-12) is the team's new captain following the off-season retirement of Tommy Cross.

Young goaltending prospect Vadim Zherenko (4-2-0, 2.52, .929) has been very good but the Phantoms have only faced Malcolm Subban (2-3-0, 2.86, .905) in three previous meetings with the Birds.

The unusual morning start is part of an annual School Field Trip day. The Phantoms were also the opponent for the Springfield Morning Game on November 13, 2019 in a 2-1 loss despite pouring on 42 shots.

Saturday, November 11, 2023 (7:05 p.m.)

PPL Center, Allentown PA

Phantoms vs. Bears

and

Sunday, November 12, 2023 (3:00 p.m.

GIANT Center, Hershey PA

Phantoms at Bears

The I-78 rivalry continues as the Phantoms and Bears meet for the third and fourth time in just over two weeks.

Hershey (8-3-0) is at the top of the Atlantic Division after winning the Calder Cup last year. The Bears squeaked past the Phantoms in overtime in a 4-3 decision last Wednesday.

Saturday's game marks Hershey's visit to Allentown in the regular season although the Phantoms did not knock off the Bears in a preseason contest at PPL Center on Sunday, October 8 on Tanner Laczynski's overtime winner.

Saturday is also expected to mark the first PPL Center appearance for former Phantom Nicolas Aube-Kubel since he played for Lehigh Valley from 2015-2019. Aube-Kubel is sixth all-time in Lehigh Valley history in games played (229) and goals (50) and is also eighth in total points (105). He also played in 103 games with the Philadelphia Flyers scoring 10-18-28. All told, Aube-Kubel played in 332 total games in the organization with the Flyers and Phantoms combined scoring 60-73-133. Welcome back, Q!!

Hershey lost at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Friday 2-1 on Marc Johnstone's goal with just 0.5 seconds remaining but the Bears bounced back on Saturday to post a 3-1 win against the Bridgeport Islanders. 30-year-old veteran Mike Sgarbossa (3-9-12) leads the Bears while Ethen Frank (5-3-8) is tops in goals following his strong 30-goal rookie campaign. Frank has scored 10 of his 35 career AHL goals against Lehigh Valley including a hat trick last season. Hershey's defense is allowing just 2.27 goals per game (4th in AHL) and 25.6 shots against (3rd in AHL)

Phantoms Scoring Leaders

Olle Lycksell 8-0-8

Samu Tuomaala 2-6-8

Tanner Laczynski 1-7-8

Elliot Desnoyers 2-5-7

Cooper Marody 2-5-7

Garrett Wilson 2-5-7

UPCOMING -

Wednesday, November 8 (10:35 a.m.) - Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Springfield Thunderbirds

Saturday, November 11 (7:05 p.m.) - Hershey Bears at Lehigh Valley Phantoms

Sunday, November 12 (3:00 p.m.) - Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Hershey Bears

Friday, November 17 (7:00 p.m.) - Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Laval Rocket

Saturday, November 18 (7:00 p.m.) - Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Belleville Senators

PHANTOMS GAME TICKETS

Broadcast coverage of all Phantoms games, home and away, is available on the Phantoms 365 app and on Real Oldies 1470-AM in Allentown. Fans can watch on AHLTV.com and can listen on their Smart Speakers at: "Play Phantoms Radio 24/7." Join the Voice of the Phantoms, Bob Rotruck, for all the action!

Service Electric Network again provides exclusive television coverage of all Phantoms home games with veteran announcer Steve Degler and Phantoms' alum Steven Swavely on the call from the booth. Kristi Fulkerson reports from ice level and also from the Chickie's and Pete's studio with Dan Fremuth for pregame, intermission and postgame show analysis.

Check out the Lehigh Valley Phantoms Statistics




Images from this story

Lehigh Valley Phantoms right wing Olle Lycksell
Lehigh Valley Phantoms right wing Olle Lycksell
 Lehigh Valley Phantoms forward Samu Tuomaala
Lehigh Valley Phantoms forward Samu Tuomaala
  



American Hockey League Stories from November 7, 2023


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