PREVIEW: Phantoms at Bears, Game #34

Lehigh Valley Phantoms (15-13-5) at Hershey Bears (21-10-3)
GIANT Center, Hershey, PA
Tuesday, January 7, 2025 (7:00 p.m.) – Game #34

TONIGHT – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms conclude their three-game road trip as they visit the rival Hershey Bears, AHL affiliate of the Washington Capitals. Tonight is Game 6 out of 10 in the rivalry series. The Phantoms are 2-2-1 against the two-time defending Calder Cup Champs.

Lehigh Valley (15-13-5) is 2-0-0 to start 2025 and has won three of its last four and is also 6-3-0 in the last nine games.

Hershey (21-10-3) holds down first place in the Atlantic Division and has won two in a row and three out of four breaking out of a recent slump. The Bears are wrapping up an eight-game homestand tonight.

The Phantoms return to PPL Center on Friday, January 10 to play the Hartford Wolf Pack featuring a Blackout Night with accompanying Blackout Knit Caps for the fans presented by the Morning Call.

LAST TIME – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms won yet another overtime game, their league-leading seventh of the season, as they downed the Syracuse Crunch 3-2 via Brendan Furry’s backhander in the extra session. Alexis Gendron (10th) scored in both games of the road trip and Helge Grans (4th) also lit the lamp to take a 2-0 lead in a dominating first period in which the Phantoms outshot the Crunch 15-4 making it look easy against the top defense in the AHL. Syracuse tied the game with just 16.1 seconds left via an extra-attacker goal from the side of the cage by Gabe Fortier. The Crunch had a four-game win streak snapped but extended their point streak to eight games.

MEDIA MATERIALS – Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for tonight’s game here: https://www.phantomshockey.com/media-materials/

TRANSACTIONS –
Dec 29 Sawyer Boulton     – Add – Recalled from Reading
Jan 2 Xavier Bernard      – Add – Recalled from Reading
Jan 2 Mason Primeau    – Add – Recalled from Reading

OVERTIME IS PHANTOMS-TIME – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms lead the AHL with seven overtime wins and 13 overtime games this season. Lehigh Valley is 7-4 in overtime decisions and 1-1 in shootouts. Olle Lycksell has scored three overtime winners to lead the AHL. Other overtime goal-scorers for the Phantoms include Rhett Gardner, Samu Tuomaala, Louie Belpedio and Brendan Furry.

The Phantoms have won their last three straight overtime games and are 5-1 in overtimes dating back to Samu Tuomaala’s winner at Hartford on November 27. The Phantoms are also 7-2 in their last nine OT games since November 9 against Utica.

The franchise record for most overtime wins in a season is eight which has happened twice including last year in 2023-24 and also by the Philadelphia Phantoms in 2005-06.

PHANTASTIC – 

– The Phantoms have won two straight to open 2025 and have also won three of their last four and are also 6-3-0 in their last nine games to take sole possession of fifth place in the Atlantic Division while closing the gap on the Top 4.

– Rodrigo Abols has a three-game point streak (2-1-3) and has five goals in the last 10 games.

– Alexis Gendron is on a two-game goal streak and has three goals in the last four games and also four goals in the last seven. He turned 21 years old on December 30.

– The Phantoms will hit the midway mark of the season this weekend. After Saturday’s game at Hartford, the Phantoms will have played 36 games and will have 36 to go.

– 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. The Phantoms have now played five straight games without an overtime which is their longest stretch of the season.

– Lehigh Valley is second in the AHL in one-goal games with 21 trailing only Hershey. The Phantoms are 11-5-5 in the one-goal squeakers including 7-0-2 at home in one-goal games.

IMPENDING MILESTONES
– Jacob Gaucher, 99 pro points
– Helge Grans, 199 AHL games
– Rhett Gardner, 298 AHL games

HANGING OUT IN HERSHEY – Hershey (21-10-3) has been trying to shake off its holiday slumber in which the Bears dropped four out of five games and have now won two straight and also three out of four to hang on to the top spot in the division. The Bears are 3-4-0 on their current eight-game homestand which concludes tonight. Injuries have hurt the club and the normally stingy defense is surrendering 2.8 goals per game, 13th in the AHL. But the two-time defending Calder Cup Champs have the conference’s top goal-scorer in Ethen Frank (20-8-28) who scored the late winner against the Phantoms on December 8 in a 5-4 final in the most recent meeting. Veteran center Mike Sgarbossa (5-21-26) is producing at over a point-per-game and former Phantom Mike Vecchione (5-13-18) has been a steady presence. The Phantoms are 2-2-1 against Hershey entering the sixth of 10 meetings this season. The Phantoms lost a 5-4 decision in Chocolatetown on December 8 when Ethen Frank scored the winner with just 3:07 left. Lehigh Valley’s most recent win against the Bears was November 30 on Olle Lycksell’s overtime winner at PPL Center. The Phantoms are 1-1-0 at GIANT Center including a 2-1 decision on October 30 via Jacob Gaucher’s winning goal with 11:04 left.

Phantoms Scoring Leaders
x – Olle Lycksell 9-15-24
Samu Tuomaala 8-15-23
Jacob Gaucher 13-9-22
Rodrigo Abols 8-8-16
Anthony Richard 6-10-16
Alexis Gendron 10-5-15
Oscar Eklind 4-11-15

Hershey
Ethen Frank 20-8-28
Mike Sgarbossa 5-21-26
Pierrick Dubé 7-13-20
Alex Limoges 6-14-20
Henrik Rybinski 6-14-20

Special Teams:
Lehigh Valley – PP 18.7%, 11th / PK 82.1%, 20th
Hershey – PP 17.8%, 12th / PK 85.2, 10th

SEASON SERIES
Oct 30 – Win – Lehigh Valley 2 at Hershey 1
Nov 16 – Loss – Hershey 6 at Lehigh Valley 3
Nov 29 – Win – Hershey 1 at Lehigh Valley 2 (OT)
Dec 7 at Lehigh Valley – OTL – Hershey 3 at Lehigh Valley 2 (OT)
Dec 8 at Hershey – Loss – Lehigh Valley 4 – Hershey 5
Jan 7 at Hershey
Mar 2 at Hershey
Apr 4 at Lehigh Valley
Apr 12 at Lehigh Valley
Apr 19 at Hershey

SERIES LEADERS
Lehigh Valley
x – Olle Lycksell 2-3-5
J.R. Avon 1-3-4
Anthony Richard 0-4-4
Helge Grans 2-1-3
Cal Petersen 2-1-1, 2.07, .927

Hershey
Ethen Frank 3-1-4
Mike Vecchione 2-2-4
Pierrick Dube 1-3-4
Mike Sgarbossa 0-4-4
Spencer Smallman 0-4-4
Clay Stevenson 1-0-1, 1.95, .918
Hunter Shepard 2-1-0, 3.04, .888

COMING UP –  The first home game of 2025 is Friday, January 10 against the Hartford Wolf Pack on a Blackout Night at PPL Center complete with Blackout Knit Caps from The Morning Call.

UPCOMING

Friday, January 10 (7:05) – Hartford Wolf Pack at Phantoms – Blackout Knit Caps from The Morning Call

Saturday, January 11 (7:05) – Phantoms at Hartford Wolf Pack

Sunday, January 12 (5:00) – Phantoms at Bridgeport Islanders

Wednesday, January 15 (7:05) – Phantoms vs. Belleville Senators, Pregame Happy Hour, $2 Beers

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