Offense Keeps Cooking in 5-2 Win vs. Bridgeport

Gaucher Scores Twice. Petruzzelli Clutch in Relief

February 28, 2025

Allentown, PA – Jacob Gaucher (17th, 18th) scored a pair of goals and goaltender Keith Petruzzelli was magnificent after replacing an injured Parker Gahagen as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms returned to PPL Center to post a 5-2 win over the Bridgeport Islanders on Friday night.

Brendan Furry (8th), Olle Lycksell, and Alexis Gendron (16th) also scored for the Phantoms who made it eight consecutive games with three or more goals. Lycksell’s goal and assist stretches his point streak to eight games (2-8-10) which is the longest for the Phantoms this season. Adam Ginning and Zayde Wisdom both contributed a pair of assists.

Lehigh Valley (27-20-7) dominated the first period and took a 2-0 lead into the intermission while enjoying a 16-5 shots advantage.

Brendan Furry raced up the right wing at the very end of a Bridgeport power play and took the shot himself from the left circle during a 3-on-1 connecting to the far post for a 1-0 lead exactly 10:00 into the game. The power play had just expired two seconds before the puck hit the net thus denying Furry credit for his fifth shorthanded goal of the season which would have put him into a tie for the league lead. Furry has scored goals in back-to-back games and has three goals in the last five.

Gaucher connected to the upper-right corner from inside the left dot with 2:01 left in the period to make it 2-0.

Moments later, Bridgeport’s Tyce Thompson dealt a heavy hit on Massimo Rizzo in open ice drawing the attention of Garrett Wilson who punished the Islanders forward in a one-sided fight that fired up the crowd even more.

Parker Gahagen left the game after one period due to an injury and was replaced by Petruzzelli who was thankfully on top of his game because the Islanders were determined to bring a stronger effort in the middle stanza than they showed in the first period. Petruzzelli had several strong saves in the middle frame including a pair of breakaway denials.

The Islanders got on the board shortly after a botched 2-on-0 when Isaiah George shot it home from the point through a screen set by former Phantom Cole Bardreau. The Phantoms’ lead had been trimmed to 2-1 at the second intermission.

Lehigh Valley converted on the power early in the third period off a perfect seam pass by Anthony Richard connecting with Lycksell all the way over at the right dot who shoved a shot off the right shoulder of goaltender Henrik Tikkanen and into the net making it 3-1 at 2:17 into the period. Richard has lit it up in the last five games scoring 4-4-8.

Bridgeport (12-35-6) wasn’t done and once again made it a one-goal game with a point-shot by Wyatt Newpower that was deflected across the moving Petruzzelli by Eetu Liukas (6th) and back to the short-side post at 15:46 cutting the margin to 3-2.

But the Phantoms had a quick response again and this time took just 28 seconds to answer back with Lycksell behind the net spotting a moving Gaucher pushing into the slot to crank home his second of the night with a massive point-blank one-timer at 16:14 to make it 4-2.

The Islanders pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker but were forced to take a tripping penalty to break up a dangerous chance for an empty-netter. Gendron capped the scoring with Lehigh Valley’s second power-play goal of the game as he called, “Bank!” Gendron recovered a shot off the end-boards and creatively scored from behind the line by using the Bridgeport defenseman as a ricochet. Gendron’s bank-shot off the leg of the Islanders’ player made it 5-2 with 1:38 left.

Lehigh Valley has scored 46 goals in the last 11 games averaging 4.2 during the offensive surge. Lehigh Valley has scored three or more goals in eight consecutive games and also has lit up for five goals three times in the last five games.

The Phantoms have points in four of the last five games (3-1-1) as well as six of the last eight (5-2-1). Since January 29, the Phantoms have gone 7-3-1 in their push toward the top half of the Atlantic Division.

Olle Lycksell’s eight-game point streak puts him within striking distance of the Lehigh Valley record 10-game point streak set by Jason Akeson in the team’s inaugural season in 2014-15. Lycksell’s streak is the longest for the Phantoms since an eight-game point streak by Travis Sanheim in February 2018. Chris Conner also had a nine-game point streak in February 2016. The franchise record is a 16-game point streak by Vinny Prospal of the Philadelphia Phantoms in the first season of the team’s existence in the 1996-97 campaign.

Lehigh Valley improved to 27-20-7 to make it to seven games over .500 for a second time which is their peak this season.

The Phantoms are now 16-1-1 when scoring four or more goals in a game. Lehigh Valley is 18-0-2 when allowing two goals or fewer.

The Phantoms went 2-for-4 on the power play to record multiple PP markers for a sixth time this season.

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms are 3-1-0 against the Bridgeport Islanders against whom they will rematch on Saturday while the fans celebrate the World Champion Philadelphia Eagles including an appearance by Lehigh Valley’s own Super Bowl Champ, Jahan Dotson.

SCORING SUMMARY

1st 10:00 – LV, B. Furry (8) (A. Ginning) (1-0)
1st 17:59 – LV, J. Gaucher (17) (Z. Wisdom, A. Ginning) (2-0)

2nd 13:03 – BRI, I. George (4) (J. Randl, C. Bardreau) (2-1)

3rd 2:17 – LV, O. Lycksell (15) (A. Richard, E. Andrae) (PP) (3-1)
3rd 15:46 – BRI, E. Liukas (6) (W. Newpower, M. Warren) (3-2)
3rd 16:14 – LV, J. Gaucher (18) (O. Lycksell, Z. Wisdom) (4-2)
3rd 18:22 – LV, A. Gendron (16) (L. Belpedio, E. Samson) (PP) (5-2)

Shots:
LV 32 – BRI 25

PP:
LV 2/4, BRI 0/2

Goaltenders:
LV – P. Gahagen (ND) (5/5)
LV – K. Petruzzelli (W) (3-2-0) (18/20)
BRI – H. Tikkanen (L) (4-15-2) (27/32)

Records:
Lehigh Valley (27-20-7)
Bridgeport (12-35-6)

UPCOMING

Saturday, March 1 (7:05) – Bridgeport Islanders at Phantoms – Celebrating the World Champion Philadelphia Eagles! Prizes, Giveaways, Special Guest Appearance by Jahan Dotson

Sunday, March 2 (5:00) – Phantoms at Hershey Bears

Saturday, March 8 (4:00) – Phantoms at Charlotte Checkers

Sunday, March 9 (1:00) – Phantoms at Charlotte Checkers

The post Offense Keeps Cooking in 5-2 Win vs. Bridgeport appeared first on Lehigh Valley Phantoms.