PREVIEW: Phantoms vs. Penguins, Game 2
Today
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms wrap up Opening Weekend as they host the rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, AHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Both teams are 1-0-0 entering the second game of the season.
Lehigh Valley has eliminated the Baby Pens in the opening round of the Calder Cup Playoffs in consecutive seasons. Today’s game is the first of 12 meetings against our northeast Pennsylvania foes.
Fans will receive Phantoms Trading Card sets at today’s game.
Last Time
A raucous and electric crowd jammed into PPL Center. Devin Kaplan brought even more noise as the rookie winger scored twice in the first period of his AHL debut. Lehigh Valley took down the Belleville Senators 5-2 to improve to 8-4-0 all-time in season debuts. Karsen Dorwart also scored in his first AHL game while Lane Pederson scored his 112th career AHL goal in his first game with his new team. Ty Murchison capped the night with an empty-netter and Aleksei Kolosov was especially strong in night with 27 saves while backstopping a 7-for-7 penalty kill.
The Team
The Phantoms begin the season with 27 players including 17 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders. Nine players are entering their rookie season. 17 players played part or all of last season with the Phantoms. John Snowden enters his first season as head coach and makes his official AHL head coaching debut tonight.
Media Materials
Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for tonight’s game here:
Who’s Back
17 returning players from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms’ playoff run last year include several top players and fan-faves. Emil Andrae, Helge Grans and Hunter McDonald are going to be key cogs on the blueline again. Ethan Samson will be getting it going in a few weeks but is sidelined with an injury from the preseason. Veteran captain Garrett Wilson brings his toughness to bolster the forward group along with experienced wingers Cooper Marody and Zayde Wisdom. Anthony Richard, Alexis Gendron and Jacob Gaucher were the top three goal scorers last year. Samu Tuomaala, Massimo Rizzo, Oscar Eklind and Sawyer Boulton are also back. Goaltender Aleksei Kolosov is aiming for a big campaign in his second professional season in the U.S.
Who’s New
Some exciting new prospects are jumping into the professional ranks as well. Forward Alex Bump and defenseman Ty Murchison already got their initial taste of the AHL at the end of last season.
Bump is part of the “Killer B’s” quartet of talented rookies also including forward Denver Barkey and goaltender Carson Bjarnason as well as defenseman Oliver Bonk (still in Voorhees with the Flyers due to injury).
Newcomer Tucker Robertson joins from Coachella Valley in California after a trade for his good friend and former teammate, J.R. Avon.
Lane Pederson is an AHL veteran center who is playing in the Eastern Conference for the first time after recent stints with Bakersfield, Abbotsford and Tucson. Carl Grundstrom made it here just a few days ago after he was acquired by the Flyers on Sunday in a trade with San Jose. Grundstrom has 291 games of NHL experience with San Jose and Los Angeles. Defenseman Artem Guryev also came to the Phantoms in that same trade.
Newly arrived AHL contract players looking to make an impression include defensemen Emile Chouinard, Carter Berger and Ben Meehan.
Who’s Out
Two Phantoms players remain at Philadelphia Flyers Training Camp due to injury.
- Ethan Samson – D
- Oliver Bonk – D
Coaching Staff
John Snowden was named the fifth head coach in Lehigh Valley history. He joined the Phantoms as an assistant coach in the 2022-23 season after spending two years as an assistant coach with the Toronto Marlies.
Nick Schultz is a 15-year NHL veteran as a player who is entering his first season with the Phantoms and first season as an assistant coach. He spent the last six seasons with the Flyers organization as Assistant Director of Player Development and as a player development coach.
Assistant coach Terrence Wallin enters his first season with the Phantoms arriving from the Maine Mariners of the ECHL where he served as head coach for the past three seasons. The Yardley, PA native grew up cheering for the Flyers and was a Flyers Cup and Pennsylvania State Champion with LaSalle College High School in 2008.
Welcome Back, Wilkes!
The Baby Pens are back! and are looking for revenge. The Orange and Black have dramatically ousted the NEPA contingent in consecutive Calder Cup Playoff opening rounds. Last year, Helge Grans had the incredible back-to-the-goal backhander with two minutes left in Game 2 to break the tie and complete the sweep. The year before, it was Jacob Gaucher overtime breakaway that sparked the clinching-celerbration.
Owen Pickering broke a 1-1 tie and Sergei Murashov turned aside 23 Hartford efforts in a 2-1 Opening Night win against the Wolf Pack on Saturday.
Tristan Broz cranked out 19 goals as a rookie including seven against the Phantoms for head coach Kirk MacDonald’s group. Joona Koppanen and Valtteri Puustinen and Sam Poulin are all familiar to Phantoms fans and sometimes be thorns in Lehigh Valley’s side. Ryan Graves came down from Pittsburgh and played his first AHL game since 2019 with Colorado. The veteran defenseman is 30 years old and has 433 career NHL games with PIT, NJ and COL. Danton Heinen did similar. Last night represented his first AHL game since 2018 with the Providence Bruins and in betwen he had 566 career games with Boston, Anaheim, Pittsburgh, and Vancouver. Boko Imama returns to bring more grit and toughness. Sergei Murashov and Filip Larsson are the goaltending tandem to begin the season. Larsson recorded a 41-save shutout at PPL Center in the second of the season last year.
What’s Next
The Phantoms head to northeast Ohio next weekend for back-to-back games at the Cleveland Monsters on Friday, October 17 and Saturday, October 18 as part of Opening Weekend for the AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Phantoms will be back at PPL Center on Friday, October 24 celebrating “Haunted on Hamilton” when they host the rival Hershey Bears.
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