PREVIEW: Phantoms at Rocket, Game #65
Lehigh Valley Phantoms (31-26-7) vs. Laval Rocket (42-16-4)
Place Bell, Laval, Que.
Saturday, March 29, 2025 (7:00 p.m.) – Game #65
TODAY – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms continue their road trip as they travel to Laval, Quebec to take on the top team in the AHL. The Laval Rocket, AHL affiliate of teh Montreal Canadiens, have a league-leading 42 wins.
Lehigh Valley (31-26-7) has a Magic Number of 10 points with eight games remaining in the regular season. The Phantoms occupy fifth place in the Atlantic Division and the top six teams qualify for the postseason. Lehigh Valley is striving for a third consecutive berth in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Laval (42-16-4) officially punched its ticket last night with a 4-1 win over the Toronto Marlies. The Rocket have the top points percentage and most wins in the AHL and have a six-point lead over second-place Rochester in the North Division. The Rocket are currently on a six-game point streak (5-0-1).
LAST TIME – 18-year-old Jett Luchanko made his Lehigh Valley Phantoms debut as Lehigh Valley took a 2-1 lead in the third period. But the Belleville Senators rallied from behind with back-to-back goals, including a game-winner from former Phantom Hayden Hodgson, to take a 3-2 decision on Friday night at CAA Arena. Ethan Samson (10th) and Elliot Desnoyers (5th) struck for the Phantoms who probably deserved a positive result as Lehigh Valley largely outplayed the B-Sens in this one. But veteran goaltender Malcolm Subban stood on his head with a number of remarkable saves among his 32 total to hold off the Orange and Black thus providing the Senators the chance for the comeback.
MEDIA MATERIALS – Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for upcoming games at the following link: https://www.phantomshockey.com/media-materials/
YOUNG REINFORCEMENTS – The Phantoms received a new package in the mail in the form of forwards Alex Ciernik and Jett Luchanko.
Luchanko, 18, was the #13 overall selection in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft out of the Guelph Storm of the OHL. He played four games with the Flyers in October before he was assigned to his Major Juniors team in Guelph where he scored 21-35-56 in 46 games in the OHL. In his OHL career over three seasons. Luchanko has played in 160 career games with Guelph over three seasons scoring 46-108-144. On Friday at Belleville, Luchanko became the second-younest player in Phantoms history at 18y 7m 7d. He already set a new record with Philadelphia as the youngest ever to dress for the Flyers on October 11 at 18y 1m 16d. Ciernik is 20 year old from Slovakia who signed an ATO contract for the remainder of the 2024-2025 season. He played for the Nybro Vikings IF in Sweden’s Allsvenskan League where he scored 11-12-23 in 46 games played this season. Ciernik was selected by the Flyers in the fourth round (#120 overall) of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.
Phantoms Record Book:
Youngest Debuts
Zayde Wisdom 18y 6m 30d (Pro Debut: 2/6/21)
Jett Luchanko 18y 7m 7d (3/28/25)
Derek Mathers 18y 7m 19d (3/23/12)
Nick Cousins 18y 8m 11d (3/31/12)
Scott Laughton 18y 10m 13d (4/12/13)
Philadelphia Flyers First Round Selections with Lehigh Valley:
Scott Laughton – 2012 selection
Samuel Morin – 2013
Travis Sanheim – 2014
German Rubstov – 2016
Morgan Frost – 2017
Joel Farabee – 2018
Cam York – 2019
Tyson Foerster – 2020
Jett Luchanko – 2024
KOLOSOV UP, GAHAGEN RETURNS – The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled goaltender Aleksei Kolosov from the Phantoms while the Phantoms have recalled goaltender Parker Gahagen from the Reading Royals of the ECHL. Kolosov, 23, has gone 5-6-1, 3.11, .884 in 12 games with Lehigh Valley in the 2024-25 season and is also 4-8-1, 3.45, .870 in 15 NHL games with Philadelphia. The third-round selection in 2021 from Minsk, Belarus recently appeared in five games with the Phantoms in a stretch from March 8-23 in which he went 3-2-0, 2.43, 922.
Gahagen, 31, has thrived with the Phantoms in the best AHL season of his career going 9-3-2, 2.65, .906. He put together a personal seven-game win streak from December 28 through February 14 and also recorded his first career shutout in the AHL with a 26-save gem at the Hartford Wolf Pack on January 11.
PHANTASTIC – The Phantoms are 18-12-2 since January 1. Lehigh Valley is 19-1-1 when scoring four or more goals in a game. The Phantoms are 20-0-2 when holding their opponents to two goals or fewer.
– The Phantoms are 22-7-4 when scoring the first goal and are 17-4-1 when leading at the first intermission.
I’M A ROCKET MAN – Laval (42-16-4) is not only in first place in the North Division but also boasts the best record in the AHL. And the Rocket are peaking at the right time with a six-game point streak (5-0-1) including shutout wins in two of the last four games as well as points in 11 of the last 12 games (10-1-1). Alex Barre-Boulet (20-34-54) won the AHL Rookie of the Year honor (Red Dudley Garrett Award) in his first of six terrific seasons with Syracuse and is now thriving in his Quebec homecoming. Barre-Boulet scored twice in Laval’s 4-0 victory over Toronto.
21-year-old Joshua Roy (20-15-35) has been recalled to Montreal while slick-moving defenseman Logan Mailloux (12-19-31) has a bright future appearing in back-to-back AHL All-Star Classics to begin his pro career. 20-year-old rookie fourth-rounder Florian Xhekaj (19-11-30, 159 PIM) leads the league in penalty minutes. Laval’s stingy defense gives up just 2.50 goals per game, second-best in the AHL behind only the Colorado Eagles. 25-year-old Cayden Primeau (17-2-1, 2.08, .919) has excelled since arriving from Montreal in January. Growing up in Philadelphia, the son of former Flyers captain Keith Primeau had been teammates with Daniel Briere’s sons. The Phantoms rallied from a 2-0 deficit to top the Rocket 4-3 back on November 30 at PPL Center led by Jacob Gaucher with one goal and one assist.
Scoring Leaders
Phantoms
x – Olle Lycksell 17-24-41
Jacob Gaucher 20-16-36
Anthony Richard 15-19-34
Samu Tuomaala 11-21-32
Zayde Wisdom 12-17-29
Alexis Gendron 18-8-26
Rocket
Alex Barré-Boulet 20-34-54
Laurent Dauphin 24-26-50
Owen Beck 13-25-38
Jared Davison 21-15-36
Sean Ferrell 15-21-36
Special Teams:
Lehigh Valley – PP 17.5%, 23rd / PK 80.1%, 22nd
Laval – PP 19.7%, 9th / PK 82.5%, 14th
COMING UP – The Phantoms head to Bridgeport for a Wednesday morning game against the last place Islanders in the finale of the three-game road trip. Lehigh Valley returns to PPL Center next Friday and Saturday taking on the Hershey Bears and Springfield Thunderbirds including Hispani Heritage Night with the return of “Los Fantasmas” on Saturday.
UPCOMING
Saturday, March 29 (7:00) – Phantoms at Laval Rocket
Wednesday, April 2 (10:30 am) – Phantoms at Bridgeport Islanders
Friday, April 4 (7:05 pm) – Phantoms vs. Hershey Bears. Berks $1 Hot Dogs
Saturday, April 5 (7:05 pm) – Phantoms vs. Springfield Thunderbirds. Los Fantasmas!
Friday, April 11 (7:00 pm) – Phantoms at Syracuse Crunch
Saturday, April 12 (7:05 pm) – Hershey Bears at Phantoms. Star Wars Night!
Friday, April 18 (7:05 pm) – Cleveland Monsters at Phantoms. Regular Season Home Finale
Saturday, April 19 (7:00 pm) – Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Hershey Bears. End of Regular Season
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