PREVIEW: Phantoms at Charlotte, Game 61

Two-Game Series in North Carolina

TONIGHT – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (27-27-6) continue their Push for the Playoffs taking on the first-place Charlotte Checkers (35-20-5), AHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers. Today’s afternoon clash is the first of a two-game series including a rematch on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

The Phantoms are now all alone in fifth place in the Atlantic Division and are knocking on the door for fourth place, and home-ice advantage in the playoffs, as they trail Hershey by only two points. Lehigh Valley has impressively won three of its last four against some of the very best teams in the Eastern Conference including triumphs over Syracuse, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Providence.

With 12 games remaining in the regular season, Lehigh Valley’s Magic Number is 21 points to punch its ticket for the postseason for a fourth consecutive season. As the standings shake out currently, Lehigh Valley would match up with rival Hershey in the first round. The Checkers are solidly in third place in the division but would love to catch Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for second which would come with a playoff first-round bye. But the Checkers just dropped back-to-back games against last-place Hartford on Tuesday and Wednesday. Charlotte’s Magic Number to punch its ticket stands at six points.
Today is Game 5 out of 8 in the season series and also is the first Charlotte visit for the Phantoms this year. Lehigh Valley is 0-2-2 against the Checkers.

Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for tonight’s game at www.phantomshockey.com/media/media-materials/

LAST TIME – The best team in the AHL and the top goaltender in the circuit were no match for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in a midweek clash at PPL Center as the Providence Bruins surrendered a season-high for goals in a 6-3 victory for the Orange and Black on Wednesday night. Lane Pederson (22nd) led the way with three points (1G, 2A) while David Jiricek (2nd with LV) also had a multi-point game and Brett Harrison (2nd with LV) rushed in to score a goal against his former team in an 11-second sequence that boosted a 1-0 lead up to 3-0. And Christian Kyrou (9th) made his debut at forward a memorable one with a breakaway goal. Aleksei Kolosov (28/31) had another strong performance in net while putting up five goals against Providence netminder Michael DiPietro who entered the contest with a league-best 1.80 GAA and .936 save percentage. But the reigning Baz Bastien Memorial Award winner for AHL Goaltender of the Year didn’t have the answers against the Phantoms’ snipers.

WILSON MAKES FLYERS DEBUT – A career milestone unfolded for Phantoms captain Garrett Wilson on Thursday night as he made his long-anticipated return to the NHL—skating in his first game as a member of the Flyers during their 4-3 shootout victory over the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena. It was Wilson’s first NHL game in seven years and was also his 85th career NHL game including stretches with Florida and Pittsburgh. Wilson was honored after the game with the handoff of the Bernie Parent Mask given in the locker room to the team’s Player of the Game. “It’s an unreal opportunity,” Wilson said. “Jonesy and Briere giving me this opportunity is just first class by them. I want to show them that I can still play in this league. It has been a while. But you don’t know if your window’s ever going to be fully closed, so you just got to work hard every day and sometimes stuff like this happens.”
Logging over ten minutes of ice time, he made an immediate impact, setting the tone physically by leading the team with four hits while adding two shots on goal—delivering the same hard-nosed, physical style that has defined his game in his six seasons with the Phantoms and throughout his 940 career professional games.

GINNING’S RECORD – Adam Ginning has tied Reece Wilcox’s Lehigh Valley record of 232 games by a defenseman. Ginning is expected to break the record this afternoon in Charlotte. Drafted by the Flyers in the second round in 2018, the 6’4″ lefty shot has been a blueline mainstay with Lehigh Valley for four seasons scoring nine goals with 48 assists for 57 points. Ginning has also played in 16 career NHL games with the Philadelphia Flyers including five games this year when he made the team’s Opening Night roster out of training camp.

RETOOLED ROSTER – An influx of exciting additions are quickly getting acclimated to their new team as Lehigh Valley’s revamped roster appears poised to make some noise down the stretch run.
David Jiricek was the #6 overall selection in the draft on 2022. The big defenseman with the massive, booming shot now has scored 2-4-6 in five games with Lehigh Valley. Jiricek arrived at the trade deadline from the Iowa Wild and has played 84 NHL games with Columbus and Minnesota.
Boris Katchouk joined with almost 200 career games of NHL experience with Ottawa, Chicago and Tampa Bay. Katchouk racked up 21 goals with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last year and is off to a strong start with Lehigh Valley in his first six games with his new team.
Brett Harrison made an impressive splash in his Lehigh Valley debut with a power-play goal two Fridays ago at Syracuse in his very first game with this new team and then scored his second goal in his fourth game with the Phantoms on Wednesday against the Providence Bruins, his former team. Harrison is a third-year pro who came over from the Providence Bruins.
Noah Powell, 21, made his pro debut on March 13 at Syracuse and the Arizona State product came extremely close to scoring his first goal on a breakaway and other strong chances. The Flyers’ fifth-round selection in 2022 out of the Dubuque Fighting Saints in the USHL led his league in juniors with 43 goals.
Phil Tomasino,Max Guenette and Christian Kyrou have all been big contributors since being added to the Phantoms in the first half of the season. Tomasino has played in 218 career NHL games. Guenette has over 200 career games on the blueline with Belleville. Kyrou came over from Texas and represented the Phantoms at the AHL All-Star Classic.

TRANSACTIONS –
3/11/26 Add Noah Powell (F) – Signed ATO with Phantoms
3/13/26 Del Garrett Wilson (F) – Recalled to PHI
3/17/26 Add Cole Knuble (F) – Signed out of Notre Dame by Flyers to Entry-Level Contract
3/18/26 – Owen McLaughlin (F) – Signed by Phantoms out of Boston University. Loaned to Reading Royals

HEATING UP –
David Jiricek 2-4-6 in 5 games since joining Lehigh Valley
Lane Pederson 4-3-7 last 4 games, Also points in 5 of last 6 games scoring 4-5-9
Phil Tomasino 1-4-5 in 4-game point streak
Boris Katchouk 2-3-5 in 7 games since joining Lehigh Valley
Oliver Bonk 3-7-10 last 13 games and 1-4-5 last 7 games
Anthony Richard 1-6-7 last 4 games and 4-12-16 in last 13 games since Feb 20

CHECKING ON THE CHECKERS – Charlotte (35-20-5) had closing the gap on the second-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and is eyeing a Top 2 finish in the Atlantic to earn a playoff bye. But a five-game win streak came to a crashing halt with back-to-back losses against last-place Hartford on Tuesday and Wednesday. The last time the Phantoms and Checkers met on March 7 was certainly a memorable one with Lehigh Valley rallying from a 4-0 deficit to roar all the way back to tie the game with 4:20 left on David Jiricek’s power-play blast in his Phantoms’ debut. But Sandis Vilanis (11-12-23) had the last laugh with the overtime winner on his second goal of the night in the crazy 5-4 final. Charlotte is coming off a Calder Cup Finals appearance last year making it all the way to the end before succumbing to the Abbotsford Canucks. The Checkers are 10th in the AHL in offense (3.28 goals per game) and eighth in defense (2.78 allowed). Imposing 6’8″ Cooper Black (22-10-4, 2.60, .901) is the top goaltender on the team. Jack Devine (15-19-34) represented the Checkers at the AHL All-Star Classic and is 10th in AHL rookie scoring. Nolan Foote had an overtime winner in Allentown on December 29 but was recalled to the Florida Panthers last week along with defenseman Michael Benning. Ben Steeves (19-18-37) leads the club. The Phantoms are 0-2-2 against the Checkers with Charlotte racking up 21 goals in the season series including an 8-5 win in Allentown in January.

SCORING LEADERS
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Lane Pederson 22-23-45
Anthony Richard 17-26-43
Christian Kyrou 9-24-33
Jacob Gaucher 16-15-31
Tucker Robertson 12-15-27

Charlotte Scoring Leaders
Ben Steeves 19-18-37
Wilmer Skoog 18-16-34
Jack Devine 15-19-34
x – Nolan Foote 14-18-32
x – Michael Benning 8-23-31

Special Teams PP / PK
LV 20.1%, 10th / 76.5%, 20th / PP vs. CLT, 6-14, 42.9%
CLT 14.4%, 28th / 84.1%, 6th / PP vs. LV 0-9, 0.0%

Season Series vs. Charlotte Checkers: (0-2-2)
12/29/25 Home OTL 2-3 (OT)
1/23/26 Home L 5-8
3/6/26 Home L 3-5
3/7/26 Home OTL 4-5 (OT)
3/21/26 Away
3/22/26 Away
4/18/26 Away
4/19/26 Away

LOOKING AHEAD – The Phantoms rematch with Charlotte on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
The Phantoms return home next weekend on Friday, March 27 against the Springfield Thunderbirds on Hockey is for Everyone Night, and Saturday, March 28 in a rivalry showdown against the Hershey Bears.

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