Phantoms Power Play Presented by Provident Bank
April 10, 2024 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Lehigh Valley Phantoms News Release
Lehigh Valley Phantoms take on the Bridgeport Islanders
(Lehigh Valley Phantoms)
Allentown, PA - The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (29-29-9) continue their Push for the Playoffs, presented by Provident Bank. Just two weeks remain in the regular season and with five games to go Lehigh Valley's Magic Number is just seven points to officially clinch a position in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
The Phantoms could potentially clinch as early as Saturday night at home against the Bridgeport Islanders if everything goes their way with Phantoms wins as well as losses by the Springfield Thunderbirds.
Saturday's home game is also Hockey Fiesta Night at PPL Center with "Los Fantasmas" making their triumphant return as Spanish announcing and music are featured.
LAST WEEK
April 2 - Hershey Bears 1 - Phantoms 0
April 5 - Phantoms 3 - Providence Bruins 2 (OT)
April 6 - Cleveland Monsters 3 - Phantoms 0
April 7 - W-B/Scranton Penguins 5 - Phantoms 1
THE WEEK AHEAD
Friday, April 12 (7:00) - Phantoms at Hershey Bears
Saturday, April 13 (7:05) - Bridgeport Islanders at Phantoms
WEEKLY RECAP
Tuesday, April 2
Hershey Bears 1 - Phantoms 0
Cal Petersen was terrific with 32 saves in a tight goaltending duel in Chocolatetown but Hunter Shepard turned aside all 19 shots he saw to propel the first-place Bears to victory. Pierrick Dube's strike early in the first period held up the rest of the way as Hershey won against the Phantoms for the first time in the last three meetings
Friday, April 5
Phantoms 3 - Providence Bruins 2 (OT)
Tanner Laczynski scored his second overtime winner of the season as the Phantoms rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to down the Bruins in a thriller at PPL Center. University of Nebraska-Omaha Matt Miller had a memorable professional debut by scoring a goal to get the comeback started and then Adam Brooks struck for the tying blast late in the second. From the second period onward, the Phantoms dominated second-place Providence with a 25-7 shots advantage.
Saturday, April 6
Cleveland Monsters 3 - Phantoms 0
The Phantoms had a tough time breaking goaltender Pavel Cajan who was on top of his game throughout in posting a 32-save blank sheet at PPL Center on Star Wars Night. The Force was with the Monsters who received consecutive goals just 19 seconds apart early in the first period and made it hold up the rest of the way before a late length-of-the-ice empty netter.
Sunday, April 7
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 5 - Phantoms 1
Jacob Gaucher (8th) broke up the shutout bid of Penguins' goaltender Joel Blomqvist with five minutes to play but the Baby Pens tacked on a pair of late goals including an empty-netter and a power-play strike to put the game away. Phantoms Phans rallied on the Phan busses up to northeast Pennsylvania but couldn't push Lehigh Valley over the top in the weekend finale. Blomqvist had 35 saves and helped hold the Phantoms to 0-for-5 on the power play.
PLAYOFF FEVER
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have a Magic Number of seven points to clinch a spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs. With back-to-back games coming up this weekend, Lehigh Valley could potentially clinch as early as Saturday night if everything goes their way in terms of Phantoms victories and Springfield Thunderbird losses.
Lehigh Valley holds a four-point lead over Springfield with five games remaining in the regular season.
The first round is a Best of 3 series and right now would see the Phantoms take on the rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 6 vs. 3 matchup in late April. The Penguins and Charlotte Checkers are tied for the third-place position but Wilkes-Barre/Scranton holds the tiebreaker advantage.
The Phantoms are also just three points behind the Hartford Wolf Pack for a possible 5 seed.
Lehigh Valley's second-round matchup would be against first-place Hershey in a Best of 5 series.
HOW SWEDE IT IS!
Congratulations to Phantoms products Olle Lycksell and Adam Ginning who both recorded their first career NHL goals last Saturday night for the Philadelphia Flyers. Both Swedish products are in their second season of professional hockey in North America.
Lycksell, 24, leads the Phantoms with 19 goals in 36 games this season and has also played in 18 games with Philadelphia.
Ginning, 24, has scored 2-11-13 with the Phantoms in 56 games played this year and has also played in nine games with the Flyers.
NEW ADDITION
Goaltender Alexei Kolosov, 22, has joined the Phantoms from the Minsk Dinamo of the KHL. Philadelphia's Round 3 selection in the 2021 NHL Draft was 22-21-3, 2.39, .907 for his hometown team in Minsk, Belarus.
WELCOME TO PRO HOCKEY!
Right wing Matt Miller arrived to Allentown just 48 hours earlier and quickly found himself making his pro debut on Friday night against tthe Providence Bruins. Miller made it a memorable evening with a goal in the second period to spark Lehigh Valley's comeback victory. Miller has signed an AHL contract for the 2024-25 season and has joined the Phantoms on a Professional Try Out contract for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. The 6'3 ¬Â³ forward from Leo, Indiana completed his four-year collegiate career at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and scored 7-13-20 in 37 games in his senior season in helping lead the Mavericks no the NCAA Tournament.
BROOKS IS COOKING
Adam Brooks had his five-game goal streak snapped on Saturday despite several strong chances at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and he also had his seven-game point streak snapped on Tuesday in a 1-0 loss at Hershey. But Brooks got back into the goal column on Friday for his seventh goal in the last eight games. He has scored 7-7-14 in his last 11 games dating back to March 15.
PHANTASTIC!
The Phantoms record when:
- Score 4 or more goals: 19-0-2
- Allow 3 or fewer goals: 19-6-3
- Lead After 1st period: 8-1-3
- Lead After 2nd period: 15-2-1
- One-Goal Games: 19-8-8
- Overtime: 7-6 / Shootout: 4-3
UPCOMING
Friday, April 12, 2024 (7:00)
GIANT Center, Hershey, PA
Phantoms at Hershey Bears
Hershey (50-12-5) has clinched the Atlantic Division and is putting the finishing touches on a historic season. The Bears' point percentage of .784 would break the AHL record (72-game season or longer) held by the Binghamton Rangers who had a .775 percentage in the 1992-93 season.
The defending Calder Cup Champs have 105 points and a four-game win streak following a weekend sweep at the Iowa Wild including a 7-2 win in the opener with a hat trick from Ethen Frank and then a 7-round shootout win in the finale on a goal by former Phantom Matt Strome.
The last two meetings against the Phantoms have been 1-0 goaltenders' duels with Hunter Shepard just getting the edge on Cal Petersen last Tuesday at GIANT Center. The Bears dropped a 1-0 shootout decision at PPL center on March 3 with Cal Petersen beating Clay Stevenson in a game of matching shutouts. The Phantoms have gone 3-2-1 against Hershey in the last six matchups, all in 2024. This is the 12th and last meeting of the regular season between the arch-rivals.
Joe Snively (11-42-453) and Alex Limoges (23-25-48) pace the offense. Pierrick Dube (27-16-47) and Ethen Frank (28-17-45) are also in the 20+ goal department and Dube has scored six goals against the Phantoms. The stingy Bears allow less than 2.1 goals and under 26 shots per contest, both tops in the AHL. Goaltenders Hunter Shepard (25-3-3, 1.80, .927) and Clay Stevenson (23-9-2, 1.97, .925) are first and second in the AHL in goals-against average.
Saturday, April 13, 2024 (7:05)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Phantoms vs. Bridgeport Islanders
Los Fantasmas hit the ice on Hockey Fiesta Night at PPL Center against former Phantoms Cole Bardreau and Carsen Twarynski and the Bridgeport Islanders (24-36-8). The B-Isles are in the cellar of the Atlantic Division and have dropped out of playoff contention.
The away team has won each of the first for meetings of the season series as Lehigh Valley as gone 2-0-0 at Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport while the B-Isles are 2-0-0 in downtown Allentown with some great goaltending performances including a 24-save gem by Ken Appleby on March 23 when Bridgeport won 2-1 in the last meeting. Rick Kowalsky's crew is led by second-rounder Ruslan Ishakov (17-31-48) who has four overtime goals this season. Matt Maggion (16-9-25) is a talented rookie fifth-rounder who racked up an OHL-leading 54 goals and 11 points last year with the Windsor Spitfires. Ever-feisty Cole Bardreau (10-12-22) is in his fifth season with the Islanders after spending five years with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms where he was one of the team's most popular players. Carsen Twarynski (4-4-8) joined Bridgeport in January after beginning the season in Austria. The former Philadelphia third-rounder in 2016 played parts of four seasons with the Phantoms and Flyers including 107 games with Lehigh Valley and 22 games for Philadelphia.
The Phantoms and Islanders will rematch next Friday in Connecticut as part of a head-to-head two-game set stretched across a week.
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Cooper Marody 18-34-52
Samu Tuomaala 15-27-42
x - Olle Lycksell 19-19-38
Tanner Laczynski 14-24-38
Emil Andrae 5-27-32
x - Ronnie Attard 10-15-25
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Friday, April 12 (7:00) at Hershey Bears
Saturday, April 13 (7:05) vs. Bridgeport Islanders - Los Fantasmas!! - "Hockey Fiesta"
Friday, April 19 (7:00) at Bridgeport Islanders
Saturday, April 20 (7:05) vs. W-B/Scranton Penguins
Sunday, April 21 (3:05) vs. Charlotte Checkers - Our Valley, Our Home Day - End of Regular Season!
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.
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 Lehigh Valley Phantoms take on the Bridgeport Islanders |
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