PREVIEW: Phantoms at Penguins, Game #43

Lehigh Valley Phantoms (20-16-6) vs. W-B/Scranton Penguins (21-10-4)
Mohegan Arena, Wilkes-Barre, PA
Sunday, January 26, 2025 (3:05 p.m.) – Game #43

TODAY – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms are right back it with a matinee rivalry clash at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in Game 8 out of 12 in the season series.

Lehigh Valley (20-16-6) is tied for fourth place with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the Atlantic Division standings although the Penguins have seven games in hand. The Penguins have points in eight of the last 10 games (5-2-3)

LAST TIME – That’s our All-Star! Olle Lycksell scored twice, including the winning goal with just 1:13 remaining, and the Phantoms pushed through for a 2-1 win against the Bridgeport Islanders in front of an electric and exciting packed house at PPL Center. Parker Gahagen (6-1-1) won in his fifth consecutive start. The Phantoms hit the post three times as well with Elliot Desnoyers finding iron on a first-period breakaway, Helge Grans blasting one off the iron in the second period and Jacob Gaucher finding the crossbar point-blank on the rebound of an Alexis Gendron breakaway. Hunter Miska was strong between the pipes in keeping the Islanders in contention.

MEDIA MATERIALS – Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for tonight’s game here: https://www.phantomshockey.com/media-materials/

BIG HOUSE – Saturday’s packed house crowd of 8,901 was the largest for the Phantoms in almost exactly seven years and is the ninth time in team history for Lehigh Valley to reach 8,900 in a game. Thank You, Phantoms Phans!!

HOT ROD AND RITCHIE! – Rodrigo Abols and Anthony Richard have been recalled to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Abols, 29, made his NHL debut on Tuesday against Detroit. The big center from Latvia made it to the show after 266 pro games in Sweden and 70 games in the AHL. He has scored 9-10-19 in 36 games with the Phantoms and becomes the third Lehigh Valley Phantom to make his NHL debut with the Flyers this season joining Aleksei Kolosov and Olle Lycksell.
Richard, 28, heads back to the Flyers where he played in seven games in November scoring 2-4-6. With the Phantoms this season, he has scored 8-11-19 in 18 games. The Trois Rivieres, Quebec native recently returned to the lineup following a month-long layoff due to injury.

OLLE AND KOLIE – Goaltender Alexei Kolosov and forward Olle Lycksell have been assigned to the Phantoms from the Philadelphia Flyers.
Kolosov, 23, returns to the Phantoms after playing in 15 games with the Philadelphia Flyers where he went 4-8-1, 3.45, .870. He played in four games with the Phantoms in October and returned to the lineup on Friday against Springfield. Kolosov made his NHL debut on October 27, 2024 against Montreal and recorded his first NHL win on November 23, 2024 with an overtime decision against Chicago.
Lycksell, 25, rejoins the Phantoms as an All-Star having been selected to represent the team at the AHL All-Star Classic taking place February 2-3 in Coachella Valley, Cal. He has played in six games with Philadelphia recording zero points and has been a point-per-game player with Lehigh Valley this season scoring 12-15-27 in 267games played.

ADDITIONAL TRANSACTIONS – The Phantoms have recalled defenseman JoJo Cassaro from the Reading Royals. The R.I.T. product has scored 6-17-23 in 39 games in the ECHL.
Goaltender Keith Petruzzelli has been loaned to Reading.

PHANTASTIC – 

– Cooper Marody made his belated season debut in Friday night’s game against Springfield. The elite play-maker and goal-scorer led the Phantoms last season with 56 points on 19 goals and 37 assists. But this year had been sidelined since taking an injury during the preseason in September. Marody missed the first 40 games of the season.

– Olle Lycksell is on a four-game goal streak that is also over a month long. Before this weekend, Lycksell’s last game with the Phantoms had been on December 20 when he recorded a hat trick against Toronto after which he received a recall to the Flyers. Lycksell is also currently on a six-game point streak which dates back to December 8.

– Garrett Wilson is second all-time in Lehigh Valley history with 261 career games. The 33-year-old captain is just 17 games away from equaling the team record of 277 games held by Greg Carey. Wilson is approaching another impressive career milestone as he currently stands at 396 pro points.

– Brendan Furry is tied for second in the AHL with three shorthanded goals all of which have been scored since December 21. Furry’s other goal this season was a 3-on-3 overtime winner at Syracuse on January 4. The Toledo, Ohio native has scored all four of his goals this season on backhand shots.

– Lehigh Valley leads the league in overtime games (15), overtime wins (7) and is also tied with Hershey for the most one-goal games (27). The Phantoms are 7-5 in OT decisions and 2-1 in shootouts. The Phantoms are 15-6-6 in one-goal games including 9-1-3 at home.

IMPENDING MILESTONES
– Garrett Wilson, 396 pro points
– Louie Belpedio, 397 pro games

PLAYING THE PENGUINS – The Phantoms wrap up the weekend in Northeast Pennsylvania in search of their first win of the season at Mohegan Arena. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (21-10-4) is tied for fourth place in the Atlantic with the Phantoms although the Baby Pens have a whopping seven games in hand.  Wilkes-Barre/Scranton split a weekend home-and-home series with Utica this weekend falling in central New York 5-3 before bouncing back at home in a 2-1 win.
The Phantoms are 2-4-1 against the Penguins and are 0-3-1 at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton entering Game 8 out of 12 in the season series.
NHL veteran goalie Tristan Jarry (4-2-0, 2.48, .914) cleared waivers last week and joined the WBS crew. Former Columbus Blue Jacket Emil Bemstrom (16-17-33) has scored over a point-per-game with Wilkes. Rookie Ville Koivunen (10-18-28), acquired last year in a trade with Carolina, is second among all AHL rookies in scoring. University of Denver product Tristan Broz (12-7-19) has scored five goals against the Phantoms including an overtime goal on November 6 but has been out for about a month due to injury.

Scoring Leaders
Phantoms
Samu Tuomaala 8-19-27
Olle Lycksell 12-15-27
Jacob Gaucher 14-11-25
x – Rodrigo Abols 9-10-19
x – Anthony Richard 8-11-19
Alexis Gendron 11-7-18

W-B/Scranton
Emil Bemstrom 16-17-33
Ville Koivunen 10-18-28
Boris Katchouk 13-14-27
Vasily Ponomarev 7-13-20
Rutger McGroarty 6-13-19

Special Teams:
Lehigh Valley – PP 17.8%, 16th / PK 81.6%, 20th / PP vs. WBS 5-23, 23.7%
W-B/Scranton – PP 23.2%, 3rd / PK 85.0%, 8th / PP vs. LV, 6-30, 20.0%

Series Leaders
Lehigh Valley
Samu Tuomaala 0-5-5
Alexis Gendron 4-0-4
Oscar Eklind 3-1-4
Rhett Gardner 0-4-4
Ethan Samson 2-1-3
Olle Lycksell 1-2-3

W-B/Scranton
Emil Bemstrom 3-4-7
Boris Katchouk 4-2-6
Joona Koppanen 1-4-5
Tristan Broz 5-0-5
Marc Johnstone 3-1-4

SEASON SERIES
10/18/24 Away – Loss – 3-4
10/19/24 Home – Loss – 0-3
11/6/24 Away – OT Loss – 1-2 (OT)
11/8/24 Home – Win – 5-3
11/13/24 Home – Win – 4-3 (OT)
12/21/24 Away – Loss – 2-7
12/27/24 Away – Loss – 2-3
1/26/25 Away
2/14/25 Away
2/16/25 Home
3/14/25 Home
3/16/25 Home

COMING UP –  Lehigh Valley’s last game before the AHL All-Star Break is Wednesday, January 29 at the Bridgeport Islanders. The Phantoms return to PPL Center on Friday, February 7 against the Cleveland Monsters and Saturday, February 8 against the Hartford Wolf Pack.

UPCOMING

Sunday, January 26 (3:05) – Phantoms at W-B/Scranton Penguins

Wednesday, January 29 (7:00) – Phantoms at Bridgeport Islanders

Monday, February 2 – Tuesday, February 3 – All-Star Break. AHL All-Star Classic at Coachella Valley

Friday, February 7 (7:05) – Cleveland Monsters at Phantoms – Berks $1 Hot Dogs

Saturday, February 8 (7:05) – Hartford Wolf Pack at Phantoms – Postgame Autographs with Team presented by NJM Insurance

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