PREVIEW: Phantoms vs. Syracuse, Game 37

Return of Some Former Phantoms

TONIGHT – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (19-13-4) open the second half of the 2025-26 season as they host the Syracuse Crunch (20-14-3), AHL affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Phantoms have played 36 games and have 36 remaining.

Lehigh Valley is in fourth place in the Atlantic Division and has dropped two straight on the other side of a seven-game point streak including a 3-1 setback last night against the Bridgeport Islanders in the first home game of 2026. Syracuse is in second place in the North Division and pulled away from the Utice Comets last night in a 5-2 win. Tonight marks the return of former Phantoms Brendan Furry and Ethan Samson, both of whom played parts of three seasons with Lehigh Valley. Both are appearing at PPL Center for the first time since donning the Orange and Black.

Syracuse won the previous meeting, 3-1, on December 12 in central New York. This is Game 2 out of 4 in the season series. Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for tonight’s game at www.phantomshockey.com/media/media-materials/

LAST TIME – Oliver Bonk (2nd) scored late in the third period to end Marcus Hogberg’s chance at a shutout but the Phantoms late comeback efforts were halted at that point as Lehigh Valley dropped its first home game of 2026 in a 3-1 setback to the Bridgeport Islanders at PPL Center on Friday night. The 6-on-5 conversion was the rookie defenseman’s first career goal at PPL Center. Phantoms Goalie Carson Bjarnason made 35 saves while facing a season-high 38 shots. He only let in one goal during five-on-five. Bridgeport notched power-play goals ni the first period by Adam Beckman (11th) and Liam Foudy (9th) and then Foudy added a strong cross-ice assist in the second period setting up Ethan Bear’s first career goal with Bridgeport. Lehigh Valley was mired by penalty trouble throughout the game providing the B-Isles with seven power plays.

ALL-STAR BARKEY – Denver Barkey has been selected for the AHL All-Star Classic to take place February 10-11 in Rockford, Ill. With the Phantoms this season, Barkey has scored nine goals with seven assists for 16 points in 26 games played. He has also played in 12 games with the Philadelphia Flyers scoring one goal with four assists since making his NHL debut on December 20. Barkey captained the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League to a Memorial Cup title. and was a round 3 selection of the Flyers in 2023. He becomes the 17th Lehigh Valley player to be named for the AHL All-Star Classic and is only the fourth rookie joining Morgan Frost, Ronnie Attard and Samu Tuomaala. Barkey becomes the second player to receive the honor at only 20 years old joining Morgan Frost.

KOLOSOV RECALLED – The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled goaltender Aleksei Kolosov from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms have recalled goaltender Yaniv Perets from the Reading Royals of the ECHL. Kolosov, 24, has started 19 games for the Phantoms this season, compiling a 9-9-1 record, 2.54 GAA, and .908 SV%. The Minsk, Belarus native has appeared in three games with the Flyers this season. He was recently named AHL Player of the Week on January 5 following a pair of games in which he stopped a combined 60 out of 61 shots. He also became the first-ever Lehigh Valley goaltender to receive the honor. He had his second career shutout on December 31 against Hershey and then followed that up with a 30-save performance at Toronto on January 4 in a 6-1 win.
Perets, 25, has started one game for Lehigh Valley this season, stopping 26 shots in the Phantoms’ 4-3 win at Hartford on November 1, 2025. In 15 games with Reading this season, Perets has gone 7-6-1, 3.59, .892. Prior to signing with the Phantoms in July 2025, Perets spent the majority of last season with the Bloomington (IL) Bison of the ECHL going 12-12-1, 2.59, .921 in 27 games. He also appeared in four AHL games with the Chicago Wolves going 1-2-1, 3.93, .846 and made one relief appearance in the NHL with the Carolina Hurricanes on November 30, 2024. Perets previously starred at Quinnipiac University, where he was two-time ECAC Goaltender of the Year and won an NCAA National Championship in 2023.

PEDERSON PRODUCTION – Veteran center Lane Pederson took charge through the course of the team’s recent seven-game point streak scoring 6-4-10 over the stretch including four multi-point performances. Pederson won the puck in the corner on the forecheck to set up Anthony Richard’s game-winning goal with just 11.9 seconds left last Saturday at Springfield and had earlier sparked the comeback with his dangleriffic rush through the defense and top-shelf strike to commence play in the third period and get the Phantoms on the board. The 28-year-old product Saskatoon, Sask. has been centering the team’s top line for the entire season and leads the team in scoring with 13-15-28. He has played in 323 career AHL games scoring 124 goals and he also has played in 71 career NHL games including stints with Arizona, San Jose, Columbus and Vancouver.

SATURDAY SUPERSTARS – The Phantoms improved to 10-1-2 in Saturday games this season and have won their last five Saturday contests in a row. Lehigh Valley’s road record on Saturdays is 6-0-1.

PHANTASTIC –
– The Phantoms are playing their 36th game to mark the official midway point of the 2025-26 season.
Phantoms record when…
Score First: 12-0-2
Lead After 1: 9-0-0
Score 3+ Goals: 16-1-2
Allow 2 goals or fewer: 14-0-1
On Saturdays: 10-1-2

TRANSACTIONS –
1/13/26 – Add Adam Ginning (D) – Loaned to Phantoms by PHI
1/15/26 – Add Yaniv Perets (G) – Recalled by Phantoms from Reading (ECHL)
1/15/26 – Del Aleksei Kolosov (G) – Recalled by PHI from Phantoms

SPEAKING OF SYRACUSE… – Syracuse (20-14-3) is getting back on track including a 5-2 win against Utica last night led by former Phantom Brendan Furry (7-9-16) who scored the winning goal, breaking a 2-2 tie in the third, and tacking on two helpers. The second-place Crunch have pulled to within four points of the first-place Laval Rocket in the North Division. Former Philadelphia Flyer Jakob Pelletier (18-20-38) is third in the AHL in scoring and had a shorthanded, breakaway beauty against Lehigh Valley in their December 12th matchup. Furry has stepped in nicely with his new team and will be visiting PPL Center for the first time since wearing the Orange and Black in 121 career games. Same for defenseman Ethan Samson (1-1-2) who has played in 10 games with the Crunch since being traded on December 11 in exchange for defenseman Roman Schmidt. Samson played 142 games for the Phantoms over parts of three seasons scoring 15 goals. Second-rounder Ethan Gauthier (3-5-8) was selected 37th overall in 2023 and won a QMJHL title with Alexis Gendron when they were teammates on the Drummondville Voltigeurs two seasons ago. Syracuse won the first matchup 3-1 on December 12 in upstate New York. The Phantoms mustered only 15 shots on goal in a substandard performance.

SCORING LEADERS
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Lane Pederson 13-15-28
Alex Bump 7-13-20
Anthony Richard 9-10-19
Alexis Gendron 7-10-17
x – Denver Barkey 7-9-16
Christian Kyrou 5-10-15

Syracuse Scoring Leaders
Jakob Pelletier 18-20-38
Nick Abruzzese 7-26-33
Conor Geekie 10-20-30
Dylan Duke 17-12-29
Mitchell Chaffee 9-17-26

Special Teams PP / PK
LV 17.9%, 18th / 77.5%, 28th
SYR 22.5%, 7th / 81.3%, 14th

Season Series vs. Syracuse Crunch: (0-1-0)
12/12/25 Away L 1-3
1/17/26 Home
2/15/26 Home
3/13/26 Away

LOOKING AHEAD – The Phantoms have a Monday afternoon rematch at the Bridgeport Islanders at 1:00 p.m. The Phantoms return to PPL Center next weekend hosting the Charlotte Checkers on Friday, January 23 and the Hershey Bears on Saturday, January 24.

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