Phantoms Power Play Presented by Provident Bank
…And We’re Off!
October 15, 2024
Allentown, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (1-0-0) are off and running following a thrilling Opening Night shootout win in front of a packed house on Saturday. Lehigh Valley’s 4-3 victory was one for the ages and a game that won’t soon be forgotten by the 8,000+ fans who comprised a loud and enthusiastic crowd helping us commence our 11th season of Phantoms hockey in downtown Allentown.
Now that we’re officially out of the starting blocks, we head into Week 2 with a pair of games against the rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a home-and-home weekend series and rematch of last year’s clash in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Saturday’s home game features Oktoberfest Fun at PPL Center including Polkadelphia taking the stage for Saturday Night Hockey Live. The first 3,000 fans age 21+ receive a Phantoms mug courtesy of Max and Butters.
LAST WEEK
October 12 – Phantoms 4 – Hartford Wolf Pack 3 (SO)
THE WEEK AHEAD
Friday, October 18 (7:05) – Phantoms at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
Saturday, October 19 (7:05) – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Phantoms
WEEKLY RECAP
Saturday, October 12
Phantoms 4 – Hartford Wolf Pack 3 (SO)
You probably couldn’t ask for more out of an Opening Night game that was about as memorable as they come with big chances, massive saves, and plenty of scrums and scraps and animosity.
48 shots at Hartford goaltender Louis Domingue as the Phantoms put forth a dominating performance still wasn’t enough to pick up the W in the first 65 minutes but Lehigh Valley prevailed in the shootout 4-3. Jacob Gaucher, Samu Tuomaala and Anthony Richard all scored on the power play for Lehigh Valley. But Casey Fitzgerald’s 6-on-4 goal with 1:05 left evened the score for Hartford and then the Phantoms had to kill a two-minute power play for the last minute of regulation and first minute of overtime to stay alive. J.R. Avon and Olle Lycksell scored in the shootout and then Alexei Kolosov’s glove save on Alex Belzile clinched the win.
PHANTOMS FIRSTS
– Jacob Gaucher scored Lehigh Valley’s first goal at PPL Center this season joining a list of first-goal scorers that includes Cooper Marody, Hayden Hodgson, Zayde Wisdom, Greg Carey, Nic Aube-Kubel and Scott Laughton among others.
– Anthony Richard scored his first goal as a Phantom as part of his Lehigh Valley debut. The eight-year AHL veteran of over 500 pro games has 145 career goals including 55 over the previous two seasons with the Providence Bruins (25) and Laval Rocket (30)
– Rodrigo Abols played in his first game with the Phantoms and recorded two assists, both on the power play. The 28-year-old center from Riga, Latvia played the last four seasons in the Sweden Hockey League. This was his first game in North America since the 2019-20 season when he played for the Springfield Thunderbirds (Florida Panthers) scoring 7-16-23 in 36 games.
– Oscar Eklind had never been to the United States before signing with the Philadelphia Flyers this year. The 26-year-old winger from Trelleborg, Sweden made his Phantoms debut.
SENSATIONAL IN THE SHOOTOUT – J.R. Avon’s five shootout goals in 2023-24 was tops in the AHL in a tie with Trey Fix-Wolansky of the Cleveland Monsters. Avon is now 6-for-8 all-time in shootout attempts when he started off the Opening Night shootout in Round 1 with a backhander past the left skate of goaltender Louis Domingue.
OPENING NIGHT NUMBERS
– The Phantoms recorded three power-play goals to open the season for the first time since October 11, 2014 when the team went 3-for-5 in an away game at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the very first game for the team upon its arrival to the Lehigh Valley. The Phantoms had never scored three power-play goals in an Opening Night game at PPL Center.
– Lehigh Valley’s 48 shots was an Opening Night record for the team.
– Lehigh Valley improved to 6-4-1 on Opening Nights at PPL Center and also 7-4-0 overall in season openers.
The Phantoms franchise is now 19-8-2 in 29 home openers since the beginning of the Philadelphia Phantoms in 1996 and is 20-9-0 overall to begin the season.
THE LEADERS – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms announced their group of captains before Saturday night’s game. Garrett Wilson enters his second season wearing the “C” with Lehigh Valley and Louie Belpedio is in his second year as the team’s permanent alternate captain. The Phantoms will also rotate two alternate captains with Adam Ginning and Rhett Gardner taking turns as the team’s second “A”.
THE CAPTAIN – Garrett Wilson is the longest-tenured player on the Phantoms and is two games away from moving all alone into seventh for most games played for Lehigh Valley.
LEHIGH VALLEY – GAMES PLAYED
1. Greg Carey 277
2. Chris Conner 265
3. Colin McDonald 248
4. Reece Willcox 232
5. T.J. Brennan 230
6. Nic Aube-Kubel 229
7. Cole Bardreau 226
7. Taylor Leier 226
9. Garrett Wilson 225
UPCOMING
Friday, October 18, 2024 (7:05)
Mohegan Arena, Wilkes-Barre, PA
Phantoms at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
Satruday, October 19, 2024 (7:05)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
W-B/Scranton Penguins at Phantoms
The Phantoms and Penguins will tussle in a home-and-home weekend rivalry series that is also a rematch of last year’s Calder Cup Playoff opening-round clash in which Jacob Gaucher ended the series with his dramatic overtime winner in Game 2 at PPL Center.
Lehigh Valley and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (1-1-0) will meet 12 times this year and already have some recent familiarity via a pair of preseason games. The Penguins lost in a wild opening night game against Charlotte 7-6. Ville Koivunen’s three-assist performance helped keep the Baby Pens in the game while Filip Larsson struggled between the pipes in his first game in North America and in the AHL since the 2019-20 season with Grand Rapids.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton bounced back on Sunday with a 4-1 triumph at Springfield as Avery Hayes scored for a second consecutive day while 20-year-old rookie Sergei Murashov recorded his first AHL win. The Penguins also feature 20-year-old rookie Owen Pickering who was a 2022 (#21 overall) first-rounder from the Swift Current Broncos of the WHL.
Former Reading Royals head coach Kirk McDonald is the new bench boss of the Penguins and former Phantoms and Royals defenseman Nick Luukko is alongside as his assistant coach. McDonald was head and assistant coach of the Reading Royals for seven seasons from 2014-22 before taking the reigns of the Dubuque (IA) Fighting Saints in the USHL for the last two seasons. Luukko was a Round 6 selection of the Flyers in 2010 and played seven games with Lehigh Valley and 214 games with Reading where he was once the team’s all-time leading defenseman scorer with 134 points (now second most to Mason Millman)
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Anthony Richard 1-1-2
Samu Tuomaala 1-1-2
Rodrigo Abols 0-2-2
Jacob Gaucher 1-0-1
UPCOMING
Friday, October 18 – Phantoms at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
Saturday, October 19 – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Lehigh Valley Phantoms – Oktoberfest. Phantoms Steins from Max and Butters
Friday, October 25 – Phantoms at Hartford Wolf Pack
Saturday, October 26 – Grand Rapids Griffins at Phantoms
Sunday, October 27 (3:05) – Grand Rapids Griffins at Phantoms (Haunted on Hamilton, Spooky Fun!)
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