Sports stats



AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms

Phantoms Power Play Presented by Provident Bank

December 19, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Lehigh Valley Phantoms News Release


Lehigh Valley Phantoms goaltender Felix Sandstrom
Lehigh Valley Phantoms goaltender Felix Sandstrom
(Lehigh Valley Phantoms)

Allentown, PA - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (11-11-4) are North Carolina bound before a quick break for the holidays. A pair of rematch games at a motivated Charlotte Checkers team on Thursday and Friday awaits the Phantoms after Lehigh Valley won a pair of games against Charlotte (13-10-2) a week ago at PPL Center.

Following Friday's game, the players mostly head in separate directions to celebrate a quick break before returning for a Tuesday afternoon practice in Allentown followed by a home game on Wednesday, December 27 against the Utica Comets.

WEEKLY RECAP

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Phantoms 3 - Charlotte 2 (OT)

The Phantoms finished a sweep of two games against Charlotte in dramatic fashion via Ronnie Attard's overtime goal. Samu Tuomaala's power-play blast with 4:09 remaining forced overtime. Cooper Marody assisted on all three goals including Emil Andrae's strike just 58 seconds into the contest, the fastest goal of the season for the Phantoms. Lehigh Valley won its second overtime game this season and Ronnie Attard scored his second career overtime winner including an extra-time goal against Belleville last year.

Friday, December 15, 2023

Rocket 4 - Phantoms 3

The Phantoms appeared to dominate virtually every aspect of the game but Laval Rocket goaltender Jakub Dobes kept his team competitive to ultimately set up the stunning end-result when Riley Kidney's goal from center-point with 1:07 left provided a 4-3 win for the visiting Rocket. Lehigh Valley took its first loss when holding the lead after two periods. The Phantoms out shot the Rocket 45-24 in the game and 16-4 in the third period but the Phantoms went without a goal in the final 20 minutes while the Rocket struck twice. Samu Tuomaala, Wade Allison and Emil Andrae all scored goals for Lehigh Valley.

Saturday, December 16, 2023

Thunderbirds 4 - Phantoms 2

Cooper Marody (6th) staked "Los Fantasmas" to an early lead on Hockey Fiesta Night but Springfield goaltender Vadim Zherenko would shut down the Phantoms almost the entire rest of the way as the Thunderbirds posted a 4-2 victory at PPL Center. Former Washington Capital and Detroit Red Wing Jakub Vrana had a pair of assists for the T-Birds while Adam Gaudette scored his league-leading 15th goal of the season. J.R. Avon scored with just 20.1 seconds remaining when the result was already decided.

TRANSACTIONS

Dec 19 - Olle Lycksell (F) - Returned to Phantoms from Philadelphia

Dec 19 - Parker Gahagen (G) - Recalled to Phantoms from Reading Royals

Dec 19 - Rhett Gardner (F) - Recalled to Philadelphia

Dec 19 - Cal Petersen (G) - Recalled to Philadelphia

Dec 17 - Mason Millman (D) - Recalled to Phantoms from Reading Royals

Dec 15 - Louie Belpedio (D) - Return to Phantoms from Philadelphia

WELCOME BACK, LOUIE!

Defenseman Louie Belpedio has been returned on loan to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms from the Philadelphia Flyers. He jumped into the Phantoms' lineup for the first time in almost two months in Friday's game against Laval. The 27-year alternate captain of the Phantoms enjoyed his longest career NHL stretch playing in 12 games with Philadelphia beginning on October 26 while scoring two goals including his first career NHL goal on November 3 at Buffalo. Prior to this stint, Belpedio had not played in the NHL in two-and-a-half years and only had four career games, all with Minnesota. Belpedio scored 8-19-27 in 70 games with the Phantoms last year and has played in 310 career AHL games with Iowa and Lehigh Valley scoring 33-75-108.

SO POWERFUL!

Lehigh Valley's power play continues to thrive and is first in the AHL at 24.3%. The Phantoms have scored a power-play goal in 13 of the last 14 games going 17-for-52 (32.7%) since November 12. Cooper Marody has moved into the AHL lead for most power-play points (3-10-13) while Olle Lycksell (6-6-12) and Samu Tuomaala (5-7-12) are both one behind the league lead for most power-play points while Lycksell is also one off the league-pace in power-play goals.

Tuomaala had power-play goals in consecutive games last week on Wednesday vs. Charlotte and Friday vs. Laval.

Tanner Laczynski (3-5-8), Emil Andrae (2-6-8), J.R. Avon (2-1-3) and Wade Allison (2-1-3) also have multiple power-play goals.

SAMU STYLE!

Philadelphia's Round 2 selection in the 2021 NHL Draft is having a massive season in his first full pro campaign in North America. 20-year-old Samu Tuomaala appears to be gaining more and more confidence by the minute and has moved into a tie for the team in scoring along with Cooper Marody at 23 points apiece. With power-play goals in consecutive games last week, Tuomaala now has five power-play tallies this season to move into a tie for the league lead among rookies and his 11 points on the power play is one off the league lead for rookies.

Overall, Tuomaala has scored 7-16-23 to rate third among AHL rookies in points and second in assists.

PHANTASTIC

Samu Tuomaala has moved into a tie for the team scoring lead with Cooper Marody at 23 points apiece. Among AHL rookies, Tuomaala is 1st in power-play goals (5), third in points (23) and second in assists (16)

Marody scored 1-5-6 in three games last week. Mardoy leads the AHL with 13 points on the power play. Lycksell and Tuomaala are just one behind with 12 points each

The Phantoms are:

7-3-3 when scoring first

10-2-2 when scoring three or more goals

9-1-0 when leading after two periods

9-2-2 when allowing three goals or fewer

UPCOMING

Thursday, December 21, 2023 (7:00 p.m.)

and

Friday, December 22, 2023 (6:00 p.m.)

Bojangles' Coliseum Charlotte, NC

Phantoms at Charlotte Checkers

Lehigh Valley and Charlotte (13-10-2) meet for two more games in North Carolina before the holiday break. The Phantoms defeated the Checkers twice last week including a 4-1 win on December 9 when Zayde Wisdom brought 10, 869 raining teddy bears inside PPL Center and also a 3-2 overtime win on December 13 with Ronnie Attard striking for the game-winner.

It's the first visit for the Phantoms to Charlotte since falling in the Best-of-3 Calder Cup Playoff series last April.

The Checkers opened their homestand by taking three of four points from the last-place Bridgeport Islanders but let a lead slip away in a 4-3 overtime loss on Saturday.

The AHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers is led by hard-shooting defenseman Lucas Carlsson (8-12-20) who scored the double-overtime goal in Game 2 of the Calder Cup Playoffs against the Phantoms last year. Carlsson was also second-team All-AHL scoring 20-34-54 in 61 games finishing tied for first among blueliners in goals and second in points.

Rookie first-rounder Mackie Samoskevich (6-11-17) has been heating up recently including a two-goal game at Hershey on December 10 and a goal at Lehigh Valley on December 13. He scored a gigantic goal at PPL Center with his overtime winner for the University of Michigan against Penn State in the NCAA Regional Final in Allentown last March.

Former Phantom Gerry Mayhew (4-9-13) is in his second season with the Checkers after splitting time between the Philadelphia Flyers and Lehigh Valley Phantoms in 2021-22. He scored nine goals in 24 games in his time with Lehigh Valley.

Phantoms Scoring Leaders

Samu Tuomaala 7-16-23

Cooper Marody 6-17-23

Olle Lycksell 12-7-19

Tanner Laczynski 6-12-18

Ronnie Attard 5-9-14

UPCOMING

Thursday, December 21 (7:00) - Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Charlotte Checkers

Friday, December 22 (6:00) - Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Charlotte Checkers

Wednesday, December 27 (7:05) - Utica Comets at Lehigh Valley Phantoms - Pregame $2 Beers

Saturday, December 30 (7:05) - Hershey Bears at Lehigh Valley Phantoms - Phantoms Knit Caps

Sunday, December 31 (7:05) - Charlotte Checkers at Lehigh Valley Phantoms - World's Largest Puck Drop!

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 forward Samu Tuomaala
Lehigh Valley Phantoms forward Samu Tuomaala
 Lehigh Valley Phantoms defenseman Louie Belpedio
Lehigh Valley Phantoms defenseman Louie Belpedio
 Lehigh Valley Phantoms goaltender Felix Sandstrom
Lehigh Valley Phantoms goaltender Felix Sandstrom



American Hockey League Stories from December 19, 2023


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Lehigh Valley Phantoms Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central