Phantoms Power Play Presented by Provident Bank
Happy New Year!
December 30, 2024
Allentown, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (13-12-5) close out 2024 with their annual New Year’s Eve game at PPL Center followed by the World’s Largest Puck Drop outside to welcome in the next quarter century! The Phantoms will begin 2025 with a three-game road trip including a pair of games this weekend in central New York.
Tuesday’s game against the Charlotte Checkers features Light-Up sticks for the fans and then postgame revelry outside including the countdown and lowering of the gigantic puck at Seventh and Hamilton to celebrate 2025.
LAST WEEK
December 27 – Phantoms 2 at Penguins 3
December 28 – Checkers 1 at Phantoms 2
THE WEEK AHEAD
Tuesday, December 31 (7:05) – Charlotte Checkers at Phantoms
Friday, January 3 (7:00) – Phantoms at Utica Comets
Saturday, January 4 (7:00) – Phantoms at Syracuse Crunch
WEEKLY RECAP
Friday, December 27, 2024
W-B/Scranton Penguins 3 – Phantoms 2
Garrett Wilson (6th) and Ethan Samson (5th) scored for the Phantoms but Penguins goaltender Filip Larsson held on for a 3-2 win in Wilkes-Barre in the return from the holiday break. J.R. Avon blasted a power-play shot off the post with 6:10 left and Alexis Gendron also found iron a few seconds later but Lehigh Valley couldn’t find the equalizer. Tristan Broz (10th, 11th) paced the Penguins’ attack while Vasily Ponomorev (5th) scored early in the third period for the eventual game-winner.
Saturday, December 28, 2024
Phantoms 2 – Charlotte Checkers 1
A sellout crowd at PPL Center in Allentown roared as Brendan Furry (2nd) scored the winning goal with just 3:05 left on a shorthanded breakaway beauty off the backhand to beat Chris Dreidger. Alexis Gendron (8th) got the Phantoms on the board in the second period with his 5-on-3 power-play goal. Tobias Bjornfot scored in the first period for the Checkers but that was all for the highest scoring team in the league who also went 1-for-7 on the power play. Parker Gahagen racked up 29 saves in a magnificent performance which included a show-stopping blocker save sliding to his right to break up a 3-on-2 with 9:30 left. The Saturday triumph marked the team’s third straight home victory.
MEDIA MATERIALS – Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for upcoming games at the following link: https://www.phantomshockey.com/media-materials/
TRANSACTIONS –
Dec 27 Olle Lysksell – Del – Recalled to Flyers
Dec 29 Sawyer Boulton – Add – Recalled from Reading
PHANTASTIC –
– The Phantoms are 9-4-2 at PPL Center but are only 4-8-3 on the road. The Phantoms are on a three-game home win streak.
– Lehigh Valley has opened a busy stretch which will include nine games in 16 days as well as 12 games in 23 days through January 18.
– Phantoms captain Garrett Wilson has three goals in the last seven games as well as four goals in the last 10 games including a Gordie Howe Hat Trick (Goal, Assist and Fight) in the December 18 comeback win against Providence.
– Cal Petersen leads all AHL goaltenders with three assists.
– Lehigh Valley leads the AHL with 12 overtime games and six overtime wins. The Phantoms are 6-4 in overtime decisions and 1-1 in shootouts. Lehigh Valley is second in one-goal games with 21 trailing only Hershey. The Phantoms are 10-5-5 in the one-goal squeakers including 7-0-2 at home in one-goal games.
LEHIGH VALLEY DECEMBER SCORING
Jacob Gaucher 6-4-10
Olle Lycksell 4-5-9
Zayde Wisdom 3-5-8
Helge Grans 2-6-8
Alexis Gendron 3-4-7
UPCOMING
Tuesday, December 31, 2024 (7:05)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Charlotte Checkers at Phantoms
Charlotte (17-8-3) is in third place in the division behind Hershey and Providence but is actually second-best in points percentage trailing only Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The Checkers recovered from their 2-1 loss in Allentown on Saturday to post a 1-0 win at Hershey on Sunday behind Ken Appleby’s fourth shutout of the season. Despite their recent goaltending duels, the Checkers are still tops in the conference at 3.6 goals per game and their 31.2% is also best.
Westwood, NJ native John Leonard (12-13-24) leads the way and had a hat trick two weekends ago against Bridgeport. Leonard has played in 70 NHL games with San Jose, Arizona and Nashville. Crafty Trevor Carrick (5-11-16) is a two-time AHL All-Star in 2016 and 2019. 32-year-old veteran Kyle Criscuolo (10-13-23) played for the Phantoms five seasons ago. 29-year-old veteran goaltender Ken Appleby (8-2-1, 1.98, .916) has been Eatin’ Good in the Neighborhood and rates third in the AHL in GAA with a career resurgence after spending the last three seasons splitting time between Bridgeport and the ECHL Worcester Railers. Geordie Kinnear is the longest-tenured head coach in the AHL in his eighth season with the Florida Panthers AHL affiliate in Charlotte and previously in Springfield.
Friday, January 3, 2025 (7:00)
Adirondack Bank Center, Utica, NY
Phantoms at Utica Comets
Last place Utica (6-15-4) has dropped three straight including a 3-2 overtime loss against Rochester in the most recent outing on Saturday. The Comets dropped 13 straight to begin the season going 0-10-3 including an overtime setback in Allentown on November 9 in the debut of interim head coach Ryan Parent who is a former Philadelphia Phantoms and Flyers forward. The Comets then won five straight to close out November but have been unable to continue the momentum into December posting a 1-5-1 mark.
The Phantoms rallied from behind against Utica to secure their first overtime win of the season on November 9 at PPL Center when Rhett Gardner struck for the winner following a tying goal late in the third by Olle Lycksell. Adam Beckman (6-11-17) and Brian Halonen (10-6-16) try to lead the anemic offense that has scored a league-worst 2.16 goals per game and has been shutout four times. Despite the overall struggles, Utica’s power play is clicking at a 21.3% rate which is tied for fifth in the AHL but that also leads to some unfavorable conclusions about the team’s 5-on-5 abilities. Max Willman (1-5-6) played parts of four seasons for the Phantoms and Flyers before joining the New Jersey Devils’ organization last year.
Saturday, January 4, 2025 (7:00)
War Memorial at Oncenter, Syracuse, NY
Phantoms at Syracuse Crunch
Syracuse (13-9-7) has won two straight to move ahead of Belleville for fifth place in the North Division. The AHL affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning is tops in the league in team defense averaging just 2.45 goals allowed per contest and Brandon Halverson (9-4-4, 1.80, .933) leads the AHL in G.A.A. with three shutouts. Veteran defenseman Derek Pouliot (5-17-22) leads the Crunch in scoring. He played 25 games for the Phantoms in the shortened 2020-21 season and has 226 NHL games under his belt mostly with Pittsburgh and Vancouver and is a three-time AHL All-Star (2015, 2016, 2020) with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and San Antonio. Rookie Dylan Duke (11-8-19) is a fourth-rounder out of the University of Michigan and leads the team in goals. 32-year-old veteran Conor Sheary (6-11-17) has nearly 600 career NHL games with Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Washington and Tampa Bay scoring 124-143-267 but is back in the AHL for the first time since the 2015-16 season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Benoit Groulx is in his seventh season as the Crunch bench boss and is the father of Hartford center Bo Groulx.
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Olle Lycksell 9-15-24
Samu Tuomaala 8-15-23
Jacob Gaucher 13-9-22
Anthony Richard 6-10-16
Oscar Eklind 4-10-14
Alexis Gendron 8-5-13
UPCOMING
Tuesday, December 31 (7:05) – Charlotte Checkers at Phantoms – Light-up glow sticks from Penn Community Bank. World’s Largest Puck-Drop at Midnight!
Friday, January 3 (7:00) – Phantoms at Utica Comets
Saturday, January 4 (7:00) – Phantoms at Syracuse Crunch
Tuesday, January 7 (7:00) – Phantoms at Hershey Bears
Friday, January 10 (7:05) – Hartford Wolf Pack at Phantoms – Blackout Knit Caps from Morning Call
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