PREVIEW: Penguins at Phantoms, Game #3

WBS Penguins (2-1-0) at Lehigh Valley Phantoms (1-1-0)
PPL Center, Allentown PA
October 19, 2024 (7:05 p.m.) – Game #3

TONIGHT – The rivalry continues as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (1-1-0) rematch with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (2-1-0) and look to earn a split in their weekend home-and-home series. The Penguins escaped with a 4-3 win in the opener on Friday in Wilkes-Barre after almost blowing an early 4-0 lead.

Tonight’s game features our Oktoberfest celebration night including live music from Polkadelpha and a beer mug giveaway courtesy of Max and Butters.

Lehigh Valley and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton will meet 12 times during the regular season. The Phantoms were 4-7-1 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last year but had the last laugh in the form of a 2-0 sweep in the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs with Jacob Gaucher dramatically clinching the series with an overtime goal at PPL Center. The Penguins were 5-0-1 at PPL Center last season before Gaucher’s postseason goal.

LAST NIGHT – It was a less-than-ideal start for the Phantoms to put it politely as Lehigh Valley fell behind 4-0 in the first period before almost mounting an incredible comeback. The Penguins hung on and escaped with a 4-3 victory on Friday in Wilkes-Barre in the weekend series opener. Oscar Eklind scored his first career AHL goal and first-ever goal in North America at any level while Jacob Gaucher struck for a second consecutive game. Ethan Samson’s 6-on-4 goal with 51 seconds remaining pulled the Phantoms to within striking distance.Boris Katchouk led the Baby Pens with a pair of early conversions while Tristan Brozand Boko Imama also found the back of the net in the opening-stanza onslaught. Alex Nedeljkovic joined the AHL contingent in NEPA on a quick one-game conditioning loan from Pittsburgh to earn the win with 33 saves while rookie goaltender Alexei Kolosov took his first loss of the season for the Phantoms.

OPENING NIGHT RECAP – You probably couldn’t ask for more out of an Opening Night game that was about as memorable as they come with big chances, massive saves, and plenty of scrums and scraps and animosity.
48 shots at Hartford goaltender Louis Domingue as the Phantoms put forth a dominating performance still wasn’t enough to pick up the W in the first 65 minutes but Lehigh Valley prevailed in the shootout 4-3. Jacob Gaucher, Samu Tuomaala and Anthony Richard all scored on the power play for Lehigh Valley. But Casey Fitzgerald’s 6-on-4 goal with 1:05 left evened the score for Hartford and then the Phantoms had to kill a two-minute power play for the last minute of regulation and first minute of overtime to stay alive. J.R. Avon and Olle Lycksell scored in the shootout and then Alexei Kolosov’s glove save on Alex Belzile clinched the win.

PHANTOMS FIRSTS
– Jacob Gaucher scored Lehigh Valley’s first goal at PPL Center this season joining a list of first-goal scorers that includes Cooper Marody, Hayden Hodgson, Zayde Wisdom, Greg Carey, Nic Aube-Kubel and Scott Laughton among others.

– Anthony Richard scored his first goal as a Phantom as part of his Lehigh Valley debut. The eight-year AHL veteran of over 500 pro games has 145 career goals including 55 over the previous two seasons with the Providence Bruins (25) and Laval Rocket (30)

– Rodrigo Abols played in his first game with the Phantoms and recorded two assists, both on the power play. The 28-year-old center from Riga, Latvia played the last four seasons in the Sweden Hockey League. This was his first game in North America since the 2019-20 season when he played for the Springfield Thunderbirds (Florida Panthers) scoring 7-16-23 in 36 games.

– Oscar Eklind had never been to the United States before signing with the Philadelphia Flyers this year. The 26-year-old winger from Trelleborg, Sweden made his Phantoms debut last Saturday and then scored his first career goal in the AHL on Friday at Wilkes-Barre.

SENSATIONAL IN THE SHOOTOUT – J.R. Avon’s five shootout goals in 2023-24 was tops in the AHL in a tie with Trey Fix-Wolansky of the Cleveland Monsters. Avon is now 6-for-8 all-time in shootout attempts when he started off the Opening Night shootout in Round 1 with a backhander past the left skate of goaltender Louis Domingue.

MEDIA MATERIALS – Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for both teams and the AHL at the following link.

https://www.phantomshockey.com/media-materials/

THE LEADERS – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms announced their group of captains before Saturday night’s game. Garrett Wilson enters his second season wearing the “C” with Lehigh Valley and Louie Belpedio is in his second year as the team’s permanent alternate captain. The Phantoms will also rotate two alternate captains with Adam Ginning and Rhett Gardner taking turns as the team’s second “A”.

THE CAPTAIN – Garrett Wilson is the longest-tenured player on the Phantoms and is expected to move all alone into seventh for most games played for Lehigh Valley.

LEHIGH VALLEY – GAMES PLAYED
1. Greg Carey 277
2. Chris Conner 265
3. Colin McDonald 248
4. Reece Willcox 232
5. T.J. Brennan 230
6. Nic Aube-Kubel 229
7. Cole Bardreau 226
7. Taylor Leier 226
7. Garrett Wilson 226

LAPPY 100 WINS – Head coach Ian Laperriere is on the verge of joining an elite group of Phantoms coaches to reach 100 career wins.

Phantoms Franchise – Career Coaching Wins
John Stevens – 230 (2000-2006)
Bill Barber – 187 (1996-2000)
Scott Gordon – 186 (2015-21)
Ian Laperriere – 99 (2021- Present)

WADDLE WADDLE – The Phantoms and Penguins tussle in a home-and-home weekend rivalry series that is also a rematch of last year’s Calder Cup Playoff opening-round clash in which Jacob Gaucher ended the series with his dramatic overtime winner in Game 2 at PPL Center.

The Penguins lost in a wild opening night game against Charlotte 7-6 but bounced back on Sunday with a 4-1 triumph at Springfield as Avery Hayes scored for a second consecutive day while 20-year-old rookie Sergei Murashov recorded his first AHL win. The Penguins feature 20-year-old rookie Owen Pickering who was a 2022 (#21 overall) first-rounder from the Swift Current Broncos of the WHL.

The Penguins have also received first-rounder Rutger McGroarty from Pittsburgh who could make his AHL debut this weekend after playing in three NHL games. The Lincoln, Nebraska native out of the University of Michigan was a Winnipeg Jets first-round pick before he was traded to Pittsburgh in August, 2024. The last time McGroarty was at PPL Center was March 26, 2023 when Michigan defeated Penn State in overtime of the Allentown regional to advance to the Frozen Four. McGroarty was captain of the 2024 USA World Juniors team

Former Reading Royals head coach Kirk McDonald is the new bench boss of the Penguins and former Phantoms and Royals defenseman Nick Luukko is alongside as his assistant coach. McDonald was head and assistant coach of the Reading Royals for seven seasons from 2014-22 before taking the reigns of the Dubuque (IA) Fighting Saints in the USHL for the last two seasons. Luukko was a Round 6 selection of the Flyers in 2010 and played seven games with Lehigh Valley and 214 games with Reading where he was once the team’s all-time leading defenseman scorer with 134 points (now second most to Mason Millman)

COMING UP –  Next weekend, the Phantoms travel to Hartford for a Friday night clash against the Wolf Pack. The Phantoms are at home on Saturday, October 26 and Sunday, October 27 (3:05) with a pair of games against the Grand Rapids Griffins (DET) who are visiting PPL Center for the first time ever.

UPCOMING

Saturday, October 19 – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Lehigh Valley Phantoms – Oktoberfest. Phantoms Steins from Max and Butters

Friday, October 25 – Phantoms at Hartford Wolf Pack

Saturday, October 26 – Grand Rapids Griffins at Phantoms

Sunday, October 27 (3:05) – Grand Rapids Griffins at Phantoms (Haunted on Hamilton, Spooky Fun!)

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