Phantoms Weekly
New York State of Mind This Weekend
December 10, 2025
Allentown, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (12-8-3) have a pair of road games in the Empire State this weekend as they travel to Syracuse and Rochester. Amazingly, these are the last away games of calendar year 2025. Next week, the Phantoms will commence on a six-game homestand to run through the rest of December.
Lehigh Valley remains in third place in the Atlantic Division following a busy weekend which included a thrilling Saturday home overtime win against Utica on Alex Bump’s blast.
Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for upcoming games here: https://www.phantomshockey.com/media/media-materials/
LAST WEEK
Friday, December 5 – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 6 – Phantoms 2
Saturday, December 6 – Phantoms 3 – Utica Comets 2 (OT)
Sunday, December 7 – Hershey Bears 3 – Lehigh Valley Phantoms 2
THE WEEK AHEAD
Friday, December 12 (7:05) – Phantoms at Syracuse Crunch
Saturday, December 13 (5:05) – Phantoms at Rochester Americans
WEEKLY RECAP
Friday, December 5, 2025
W-B/Scranton Penguins 6 – Phantoms 2
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms wouldn’t go away quietly no matter the margin. Multiple late scraps in Wilkes-Barre led to four separate early dismissals from the Orange and Black via 10-minute misconducts as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins eventually emerged with a 6-2 rivalry win on Friday night. Tucker Robertson (3rd) and Anthony Richard (8th) scored for the Phantoms. Aidan McDonough (4th) led the way for the Penguins with a three-point night on one goal and two assists while Tristan Broz (9th) and Danton Heinen (6th) scored back-to-back in the second period as the Baby Pens pulled away. The WBS Penguins improved to 4-0-0 against the Phantoms.
Saturday, November 29, 2025
Phantoms 3 – Utica Comets 2 (OT)
Alex Bump buried the overtime winner just 58 seconds into the extra frame to lift the Lehigh Valley Phantoms past the Utica Comets 3–2 on a festive meLVin’s Holiday Party night and Oliver Bonk’s professional debut. Lane Pederson won a battle behind the Utica goal to set up Bump’s big blast from the left slot for his first career overtime strike. Zayde Wisdom (5th) and Adam Ginning (1st) scored in the opening period to stake Lehigh Valley to an early 2-0 lead. But Utica rallied in the third and Kyle Criscuolo (2nd) forced overtime with his shorthanded goal on a 2-on-1 with just 1:27 left. The night also featured the long-awaited professional debut of Flyers 2023 first-round pick Oliver Bonk.
Sunday, December 7, 2025
Hershey Bears 3 – Phantoms 2
Another game in Hershey. Another squeaker. For the third time this season in Chocolatetown, the Phantoms and Bears competed in a game that could have gone either way. But Brett Leason found the winning strike with just 3:30 left to propel a 3-2 victory for the Hershey Bears on Sunday evening at Giant Center. Alex Bump (6th) and Jacob Gaucher (3rd) scored for the Phantoms who rallied back to tie the game on two occasions but were unable to do so a third time. Aleksei Kolosov almost converted the best save of the year into a game-deciding momentum lift. But his impressive diving denial with his blocker on his right arm only delayed the decisive tally as Hershey kept the puck alive and rotated the puck back to Leason who buried the winning strike. All five games between the Phantoms and Bears have been decided by one goal.
TRANSACTIONS –
12/6/25 Del Ty Murchison (D) – Recalled to PHI
12/8/25 Del Ethan Samson (D) – Traded to TB (Assigned to Syracuse)
12/8/25 Add Roman Schmidt (D) – Via Trade from TB (Syracuse)
MURCHISON NHL DEBUT – Ty Murchison became the first Lehigh Valley Phantoms player this season to enjoy an NHL “Rookie Lap” when he made his debut for the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night against the San Jose Sharks in a 4-1 win. The Flyers’ fifth-round selection in 2021 out of Arizona State became the 48th Lehigh Valley Phantoms player all-time to join the Philadelphia Flyers for his rookie lap and NHL debut. And the first this year and also the first since Jacob Gaucher on February 2, 2025. Murchison was honored by his teammates in the room after the game with the handoff of the Bernie Parent mask as the team’s player of the game. Murchison, 22, has scored one goal with three assists while accumulating 30 penaltty minutes with the Phantoms this season in 21 games played. He also played in four games with the Phantoms at the end of last season scoring one goal with one assist.
ROMAN SCHMIDT ACQUIRED FOR SAMSON – The Philadelphia Flyers acquired defenseman Roman Schmidt from Tampa Bay in exchange for defenseman Ethan Samson.
Schmidt, 22, has appeared in 13 games this season with Tampa Bay’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound native of Midland, Michigan has recorded one assist and leads the Crunch with 38 penalty minutes and was originally drafted by Tampa Bay in the third round of the 2021 NHL Draft. He has scored 3-7-10 in 63 career AHL games, along with 117 total penalty minutes.
Samson, 22, was selected by the Flyers in the sixth round in the 2021 NHL Draft and has played parts of three seasons for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms appearing in 142 games and scoring 15-25-40.
PHANTASTIC
– Alex Bump is third in the AHL with 76 shots and is first among all rookies.
– Bump (6-12-18) is also on a two-game goal streak.
– Christian Kyrou (4-10-14) is 9th in AHL defensemen scoring and is 3rd in the Eastern Conference.
– The Phantoms are 7-0-1 when scoring 4 or more goals
– The Phantoms are 9-0-2 when scoring the first goal of the game
– The Phantoms are 11-3-1 when allowing 3 goals or fewer
– The Phantoms are 5-1-1 against the North Division
IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE – Lehigh Valley is 12-1-2 when playing any team that is NOT in the Top 3 in the conference (any team that is NOT W-B/Scranton, Providence, Laval).
UPCOMING –
Friday, December 11, 2025 (7:05 p.m.)
War Memorial at Oncenter
Phantoms at Syracuse Crunch
Syracuse (13-8-1) is dangerous. But the Crunch have been hit by recalls to Tampa Bay and also dropped a pair of decisions at Cleveland last week. Joel Bouchard’s crew is also the only team in the Eastern Conference the Phantoms have not played yet.
The night could certainly be interesting for recently traded defensemen Roman Schmidt, now of Lehigh Valley, and Ethan Samson, now of Syracuse, as their first games with their new teams will be against their former clubs.
Veteran forward, and former Philadelphia Flyer, Jakob Pelletier (11-15-26), is second in the league in scoring. Pelletier played 25 games for the Flyers last year after coming over in a trade with Calgary (for Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee). Conor Geekie (5-14-19) is down from Tampa Bay. The former Arizona first-rounder is in his second season with the Lightning organization. 20-year-old rookie Ethan Gauthier was the #37 overall pick in the 2023 Draft.
Brendan Furry (4-3-7) was popular in his two seasons with the Phantoms and had an overtime winner for the Phantoms at Syracuse last year on January 4.
Saturday, December 13 (5:05 p.m.)
Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, NY
Phantoms at Rochester Americans
The Phantoms already have a 4-2 win against Rochester on November 19 at PPL Center and now the two teams rematch in Western New York. Rochester (13-9-2) is on a four-game point streak (2-0-2) to advance into second place in the North Division behind only Laval. The Amerks took three out of four points at Charlotte last weekend and are finding their stride in their 70th Anniversary season. Former New York Rangers prospect Zac Jones (1-19-20) has been a strong add and leads all AHL defensemen in scoring and rates second in the entire league in assists. 19-year-old Konsta Helenius (8-12-20) is a first-rounder who is thriving in his second professional season. First-rounder Noah Ostlund has played well with Buffalo in 20 games this season but was sent back to Rochester while fellow first-rounder Isak Rosen was recalled back up to the big club. Second-rounder Anton Walhberg (4-8-12) is another one of the many young prospects in Buffalo’s system to be aware of. 23-year-old Northeastern product Devon Levi (9-4-2, 3.04, .897) has been a workhorse and rates fourth in the AHL in minutes (887) and third in saves (392). Christian Kyrou led the way with a goal and a snazzy assist on a pivotal Denver Barkey strike in Lehigh Valley’s earlier victory over the Amerks.
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Alex Bump 6-12-18
Anthony Richard 7-10-17
Lane Pederson 7-9-16
x – Carl Grundstrom 6-9-15
Denver Barkey 7-8-15
Christian Kyrou 4-10-14
Atlantic Division Standings:
1. W-B/Scranton 17-5-1 = 35
2. Providence 17-5-0 = 34
3. Lehigh Valley 12-8-3 = 27
4. Hershey 12-8-1 = 25
5. Charlotte 11-7-2 = 24
6. Hartford 8-10-4 = 20
7. Bridgeport 8-11-2 = 18
8. Springfield 6-11-5 = 17
LOOKING AHEAD – The Phantoms have a big six-game homestand coming up from December 17 through December 31 including the annual Teddy Bear Toss presented by Big Woody’s on Saturday, December 20 against the Hartford Wolf Pack
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