PREVIEW: Phantoms at Islanders, Game #66
Lehigh Valley Phantoms (32-26-7) vs. Bridgeport Islanders (15-43-7)
Total Mortgage Arena, Bridgeport, CT
Wednesday, April 2, 2025 (10:30 a.m.) – Game #66
TODAY – Rise and Shine! The Lehigh Valley Phantoms take on the Bridgeport Islanders this morning in the finale of a three-game road trip. Today’s game is part of a Kids’ Field Day Trip for the Islanders.
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms continue their push for a third consecutive berth in the Calder Cup Playoffs as they play three games this week. With only three weeks remaining, there are seven games to go in the regular season and Lehigh Valley’s Magic Number to clinch a playoff spot is down to six points.
Lehigh Valley (32-26-7) is in a neck-and-neck race with the Springfield Thunderbirds for the 5 and 6 spots in the Atlantic Division but, ultimately, six teams will qualify for the postseason so it is only a difference in seeding among those teams.
Bridgeport (15-43-7) is in last place in the division and in the entire league. But the Islanders are coming off a stunning rally at the Toronto Marlies on Sunday in a 5-4 triumph after trailing 3-0 and 4-1. Lehigh Valley is 4-1-0 against the Islanders entering the last game of the season series.
LAST TIME – Parker Gahagen (24/25) was tremendous while Nikita Grebenkin (3rd), Zayde Wisdom (13th) and Garrett Wilson (12th) all buried early markers in a 3-1 Phantoms win against the first-place Laval Rocket on Saturday night at Place Bell. Adam Ginning notched assists on two of the goals and newcomer Jett Luchanko recorded his first career pro point with a slick assist on Wilson’s tally early in the second period that put the Phantoms ahead at 3-0. Lehigh Valley trimmed its Magic Number to clinch a playoff spot down to just six points with seven games remaining as the Phantoms also received help in the form of a Providence 2-1 win over Hartford.
MEDIA MATERIALS – Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for upcoming games at the following link: https://www.phantomshockey.com/media-materials/
JETTING INTO THE VALLEY – Jett Luchanko made his Phantoms debut in a pair of games last weekend as he joins the team for the stretch-run of the regular season and into the playoffs. Luchanko, 18, was the #13 overall selection in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft out of the Guelph Storm of the OHL. He played four games with the Flyers in October before he was assigned to his Major Juniors team in Guelph where he scored 21-35-56 in 46 games in the OHL. In his OHL career over three seasons. Luchanko has played in 160 career games with Guelph over three seasons scoring 46-108-144. On Friday at Belleville, Luchanko became the second-younest player in Phantoms history at 18y 7m 7d. He already set a new record with Philadelphia as the youngest ever to dress for the Flyers on October 11 at 18y 1m 16d. He then recorded his first career pro point on Saturday night at Laval via a nifty assist for Garrett Wilson.
Phantoms Record Book:
Youngest Debuts
Zayde Wisdom 18y 6m 30d (Pro Debut: 2/6/21)
Jett Luchanko 18y 7m 7d (3/28/25)
Derek Mathers 18y 7m 19d (3/23/12)
Nick Cousins 18y 8m 11d (3/31/12)
Scott Laughton 18y 10m 13d (4/12/13)
Philadelphia Flyers First Round Selections with Lehigh Valley:
Scott Laughton – 2012 selection
Samuel Morin – 2013
Travis Sanheim – 2014
German Rubstov – 2016
Morgan Frost – 2017
Joel Farabee – 2018
Cam York – 2019
Tyson Foerster – 2020
Jett Luchanko – 2024
MORE NEW BLOOD – More new additions to the Phantoms in the past week including forward Alex Ciernik and defenseman Ty Murchison.
Ciernik, 20, signed an ATO contract for the remainder of the 2024-2025 season. The native Slovakian played for the Nybro Vikings IF in Sweden’s Allsvenskan League where he scored 11-12-23 in 46 games played this season. Ciernik was selected by the Flyers in the fourth round (#120 overall) of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. His father, Ivan Ciernik, played 89 NHL games with Ottawa and Washington.
Murchison, 22, signed his two-year entry-level contract with the Philadelphia Flyers last Wednesday, beginning in the 2025-26 season. He joins the Phantoms on an ATO for the remainder of the 2024-25 season. Murchison was selected by the Flyers in the fifth round (158 overall) of the 2021 NHL Draft. The Corona, CA native just completed his fourth and final season at ASU where he totaled 24 points (9g-15a) in 146 regular-season games throughout his career with the Sun Devils.
PHANTASTIC – The Phantoms are 19-12-2 since January 1. Lehigh Valley is 19-1-1 when scoring four or more goals in a game. The Phantoms are 21-0-2 when holding their opponents to two goals or fewer.
– The Phantoms are 23-6-4 when scoring the first goal and are 18-3-1 when leading at the first intermission.
– Nikita Grebenkin is on a three-game point streak (1-2-3) and has points in five out of six games since joining the Phantoms from Toronto scoring 3-2-5.
BRIDGEPORT IS NOT AN ISLAND! – Bridgeport (15-43-7) has just 15 wins in 65 total games but the Islanders play hard and are feisty. Plus, they’ll have several thousand school-children backing them in their morning-start Field Trip game. Last Sunday, the Islanders dramatically rallied against the Toronto Marlies for a 5-4 win after initially trailing 4-1. The Islanders will also be looking to avenge a 9-2 loss the last time the Phantoms visited the Nutmeg State on January 29. Zayde Wisdom had a hat trick in that game and Louie Belpedio had one goal with three assists.
36-year-old veteran and future Hall-of Famer Chris Terry (19-43-62) is impressively first in the conference in scoring for a team that averages less than 2.6 goals per game, worst in the conference. Last week, Terry became just the 12th player in AHL history to record 800 career points. The Islanders are hemorrhaging 4.1 goals allowed per game, worst in the league. But Jakub Skarek (5-13-1, 3.52, .884) is back from the NHL hoping to shore things up as the B-Isles play out the string. The Phantoms are 4-1-0 against Bridgport this season including a pair of triumphs at PPL Center in a two-game series February 28 and March 1 by 5-2 and 5-3 scores.
Scoring Leaders
Phantoms
x – Olle Lycksell 17-24-41
Jacob Gaucher 20-16-36
Anthony Richard 15-19-34
Samu Tuomaala 11-21-32
Zayde Wisdom 13-17-30
Alexis Gendron 18-8-26
Islanders
Chris Terry 19-43-62
Brian Pinho 23-21-44
Liam Foudy 20-20-40
Sameul Bolduc 8-26-34
Alex Jeffries 11-15-26
Special Teams:
Lehigh Valley – PP 17.2%, 24th / PK 80.4%, 22nd
Bridgeport – PP 15.8%, 29th / PK 72.9%, 31st
COMING UP – The Phantoms return to PPL Center this weekend taking on the Hershey Bears on Friday and the Springfield Thunderbirds on Saturday including Hispani Heritage Night with the return of “Los Fantasmas” on Saturday.
UPCOMING
Wednesday, April 2 (10:30 am) – Phantoms at Bridgeport Islanders
Friday, April 4 (7:05 pm) – Phantoms vs. Hershey Bears. Berks $1 Hot Dogs
Saturday, April 5 (7:05 pm) – Phantoms vs. Springfield Thunderbirds. Los Fantasmas!
Friday, April 11 (7:00 pm) – Phantoms at Syracuse Crunch
Saturday, April 12 (7:05 pm) – Hershey Bears at Phantoms. Star Wars Night!
Friday, April 18 (7:05 pm) – Cleveland Monsters at Phantoms. Regular Season Home Finale
Saturday, April 19 (7:00 pm) – Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Hershey Bears. End of Regular Season
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