Phantoms Power Play Presented by Provident Bank

Offense Lighting it Up

February 24, 2025

Allentown, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have been lighting it up on offense while continuing their strong road trip through the upper midwest. The Phantoms went 2-0-1 in Grand Rapids and Rockford last week averaging 4.67 goals per game.

Lehigh Valley (26-19-7) has points in three straight and also five out of six (4-1-1). In fifth place in the Atlantic Division and solidly holding down a Calder Cup Playoffs position with 20 games to go, the Phantoms are looking to potentially improve their standing and their seeding. Lehigh Valley is just two points back of fourth place Charlotte and only four points away from second place currently held by Providence and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

After Tuesday’s road trip finale at the first-place Milwaukee Admirals, the Phantoms look forward to coming home for a two-game series against the Bridgeport Islanders on Friday and Saturday. Saturday’s game is a celebration of the World Champion Philadelphia Eagles featuring prizes and giveaways and a special guest appearance by Nazareth graduate Jahan Dotson of the Eagles.

LAST WEEK
February 19 – Phantoms 5 – Grand Rapids Griffins 2
February 21 – Phantoms 4 – Grand Rapids Griffins 5 (SO)
February 22 – Phantoms 5 – Rockford IceHogs 4

THE WEEK AHEAD
Tuesday, February 24 (8:00) – Phantoms at Milwaukee Admirals
Friday, February 28 (7:05) – Bridgeport Islanders at Phantoms
Saturday, March 1 (7:05) – Bridgeport Islanders at Phantoms
Sunday, March 2 (3:00) – Phantoms at Hershey Bears

WEEKLY RECAP
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Phantoms 5 – Grand Rapids 2
Parker Gahagen contributed perhaps his best performance of the season with a sensational 39-save gem to slam the door on the Griffins 5-2. Gahagen stopped three breakaways and also had a spectacular diving save early in the second period sprawling to his right to knock away a backdoor effort with the paddle. Olle Lycksell (14th), Rodrigo Abols (11th), Brendan Furry (6th), Anthony Richard (11th) and Garrett Wilson (9th) all found the back of the net as part of a balanced scoring attack.

Friday, February 21, 2025
Phantoms 4 – Grand Rapids 5 (SO)
Zayde Wisdom (7th, 8th) cranked up three points including a pair of goals but the Grand Rapids Griffins had the last laugh in the see-saw affair in Michigan to pick up a 5-4 shootout victory. Massimo Rizzo (6th) and Emil Andrae (3rd) also scored goals against Ville Husso. Ondrej Bcher knocked in two power-play strikes past Parker Gahagen and then contributed the shootout winner to lead the Griffins in front of a roaring sellout crowd.

Saturday, February 22, 2025
Phantoms 5 – Rockford 4
The first-ever visit for the Phantoms to Rockford, Illinois was certainly one to remember. A wild back-and-forth night of goals and lead-changes ended with a Phantoms 5-4 victory to improve to 2-0-1 on their midwest road trip. J.R. Avon tucked in the winning goal from the side of the net with just 7:26 left to break a late 4-4 tie but it was really Garrett Wilson who made the goal possible with his big and booming forecheck at a Rockford defenseman successfully popping the puck free to set up the scoring opportunity. Anthony Richard (11th, 12th) led the attack with two goals and one assist, all in the first period. Hunter McDonald (3rd) also scored as did Jacob Gaucher with his team-leading 16th strike of the season.

MEDIA MATERIALS – Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for upcoming games at the following link: https://www.phantomshockey.com/media-materials/

ROAD WARRIORS – The Phantoms have accumulated points in five consecutive away games (4-0-1) and are 9-2-1 on the road since January 1 after beginning the season with a far less stellar 4-8-3 mark on the road from October through December.

PHANTASTIC – 

– The Phantoms have a three-game point streak (2-0-1) and also have points in five of the last six (4-1-1). The Phantoms are also 6-2-1 in their last nine.  Overall, Lehigh Valley is seven games over .500 for the first time this season.

– Olle Lycksell is on a six-game point streak since February 14 accumulating 1-6-7 in the stretch. His point streak is tied for the longest on the team this year. It is Lycksell’s second time with a six-game point streak and Anthony Richard also had a six-gamer earlier this year. The third-year pro leads the Phantoms with 14-21-35 in 36 games.

– Rodrigo Abols has points in five of six games since returning from the Philadelphia Flyers scoring 1-5-6 in the stretch.

– Anthony Richard has scored 3-2-5 with a pair of multi-point games in the first three games of the team’s road trip. The AHL veteran of over 500 games returns to Milwaukee for Tuesday’s contest where he starred for the first four-and-a-half seasons of his career.

– The Phantoms have scored three or more goals in eight of their last nine games with 38 goals over the stretch averaging 4.2 goals per game.

– Lehigh Valley is 15-1-1 when scoring four or more goals in a game. The Phantoms are 17-0-2 when holding their opponents to two goals or fewer.

– The Phantoms lead the AHL with 18 overtime games ahead of Cleveland with 17. Lehigh Valley is also tied for the tops with seven OT wins along with Hershey, Hartford and Laval. Olle Lycksell leads the AHL with three overtime winners. Lehigh Valley is 7-5 in overtimes and 4-2 in shootouts.

– Lehigh Valley has taken the league-lead in most one-goal games with 32. The Phantoms also are  third in one-goal wins with 18 behind Hershey (20) and Laval (19). The Phantoms boast a record of 18-7-7 in one-goal games including 10-2-3 at home.

IMPENDING MILESTONES
– Garrett Wilson, 399 pro points
– Garrett Wilson, 270 games with Lehigh Valley (Record: Greg Carey, 277 games)

IT’S BEEN A LITTLE WHILE
The last time the Phantoms and Milwaukee Admirals played was almost exactly 20 years ago. On February 19, 2005 at Bradley Center in Milwaukee, the Philadelphia Phantoms shut out the Milwaukee Admirals 2-0. Patrick Sharp and Tony Voce scored goals in the third period while Antero Nittymaki racked up 28 saves. That finished a sweep of the season series for the Phantoms who also beat Milwaukee 5-1 at Spectrum in Philadelphia earlier in the season on December 12, 2004 including a penalty shot goal for Patrick Sharp and a two-goal game for Josh Gratton while Neil Little produced a 26-save effort in the W.

UPCOMING
Tuesday, February 25, 2025 (8:00 p.m.)
UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena
Phantoms at Milwaukee Admirals
Milwaukee (27-18-7) is technically in the top spot in the Central Division although Texas and Grand Rapids both have better points percentage marks based on games-in-hand. The AHL affiliate of the Nashville Predators has been led by some veterans this year but former WBS Penguin Vinnie Hinostroza (11-22-33) was claimed off waivers by Minnesota and former Phantom and Flyer Kieffer Bellows (14-15-29) was recalled to the Preds. 38-year-old Cal O’Reilly (6-26-32) recently played in his 1,000th career AHL game becoming only the ninth to reach that incredible mark. The former Lehigh Valley captain of four seasons from 2019-23 played 218 games for the Orange and Black scoring 36-87-123. The future AHL Hall-of-Famer is sixth in AHL history with 594 assists and 20th with 766 points. His career began in Milwaukee in 2005-06 where he played five years.
First-rounder from Finland Joakim Kemell (11-18-29) is in his second season with the Ads. Ryder Rolston (8-10-18) is the son of Brian Rolston who played 1,256 NHL games mostly with New Jersey, Boston and Minnesota.
“The other Matt Murray” (not the one who used to play for the Penguins and is currently with Toronto) has been one of the best goaltenders in the AHL at 17-9-3. His 2.25 is fifth in the AHL and his .927 save percentage is tied for first with Michael DiPietro of Providence.

Friday, February 28 (7:05 p.m.) and Saturday, March 1 (7:05 p.m.)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Bridgeport Islanders at Lehigh Valley Phantoms
It’s been a rough road for Bridgeport (12-33-6) with just a dozen wins out of 51 games. Lehigh Valley is 2-1-0 against the B-Isles including a 9-2 trouncing in Bridgeport in the last encounter on January 29 that featured a Zayde Wisdom hat trick. 36-year-old Chris Terry (16-32-48) leads the conference in scoring but he can’t do it all by himself. His 327 goals are 12th in AHL history and his 789 points are 14th. Former Hershey Bear Brian Pinho (19-16-35) had a six-game goal streak early in the season and represented the Bears at the AHL All-Star Classic. 31-year-old captain Cole Bardreau (3-10-13) is in his sixth season with Bridgeport following five years as an energetic and popular forward with Lehigh Valley.
Henrik Tikkanen (4-13-2, 4.29, .862) and Hunter Miska (1-4-0, 4.57, .857) have struggled mightily between the pipes in the absence of Jakub Skarek who is up with the big club although Tikkanen did post his first career shutout against the Phantoms on January 12. Bridgeport is getting torched for a league-worst 3.96 goals per game. The Islanders have only three wins in 25 home games and will pressure the league record for fewest home wins which is eight by the Baltimore Bandits in 1987-88. But the B-Isles are a somewhat more respectable 9-14-3 on the road.

Sunday, March 2 (5:00 p.m.)
GIANT Center, Hershey, PA
Phantoms at Hershey Bears
Hershey (31-14-5) is still tops in the Atlantic Division, like usual. But there are signs that the team mighthave slipped from its back-to-back Calder Cup Championship form. The Bears lost a 3-1 heartbreaker at Charlotte on Saturday when John Leonard broke a 1-1 tie with just 28 seconds left but bounced back in the Sunday rematch to post a 2-0 shutout win backed by Clay Stevenson.
First-rounders Hendrix Lapierre (3-10-13 in 15 games) and Ivan Miroshnichenko (13-12-25 in 31 games) are back from Washington while Ethan Frank has thrived with the big club. The appropriately named Ethan Bear (8-25-33) leads the team in scoring from the blue line and has 275 games of NHL experience including stints with Edmonston, Vancouver and Carolina. Veterans Mike Sgarbossa (7-24-31) and Mike Vecchione (12-18-30) are also carrying the load.
The Phantoms are 3-2-1 against Hershey entering Game 7 of the 10-game season series including a t5-4 win at GIANT Center in their last meeting on January 7. The Phantoms are 2-1-0 in Chocolatetown. Reigning AHL Goaltender of the Year Hunter Shepard (18-8-2, 2.90, .891) has been off his “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award form of a season ago and has especially struggled against the Phantoms going 2-2-0, 3.87, .860.

Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Olle Lycksell 14-21-35
Samu Tuomaala 11-20-31
Jacob Gaucher 16-15-31
Anthony Richard 12-14-26
Rodrigo Abols 11-14-25
Alexis Gendron 15-7-22
Zayde Wisdom 8-13-21

UPCOMING

Tuesday, February 25 (8:00) – Phantoms at Milwaukee Admirals

Friday, February 28 (7:05) – Bridgeport Islanders at Phantoms – Hockey is For Everyone!

Saturday, March 1 (7:05) – Bridgeport Islanders at Phantoms – Celebrating the World Champion Philadelphia Eagles! Prizes, Giveaways, Special Guest Appearance by Jahan Dotson

Sunday, March 2 (5:00) – Phantoms at Hershey Bears

 

 

 

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