PREVIEW: Phantoms vs. Bears, Game #67

Lehigh Valley Phantoms (33-26-7) vs. Hershey Bears (39-18-7)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Friday, April 4, 2025 (7:05 p.m.) – Game #67

TODAY – With just six games to go and inching closer and closer to punching their ticket for the Calder Cup Playoffs, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms return to PPL Center to tangle with the first-place Hershey Bears in Game 8 out of 10 in the season rivalry series.

The Phantoms have won two straight and are 3-3-1 against Hershey this season. More importantly, Lehigh Valley’s Magic Number is down to just four points to clinch a third consecutive berth in the Calder Cup Playoffs. The Phantoms can potentially clinch as early as Saturday night at PPL Center against Springfield.

Having moved back ahead of Springfield for fifth-place in the division via Wednesday’s 4-1 win at Bridgeport, the Phantoms have pulled further away from seventh-place Hartford with an 11-point margin above the playoff cut-line.

Hershey (39-18-7) has already clinched a spot in the playoffs but the Bears have a Magic Number of 14 points to clinch a division title and 1 seed for the playoffs. The Bears hold a slim three-point margin over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Charlotte and are looking for a strong response after a humbling sweep at the hands of the last-place Utica Comets last week by scores of 4-2 and 7-4.

LAST TIME –  For a second consecutive game, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms took early control and never looked back. Anthony Richard (16th) and Alexis Gendron (19th) scored in the first period of the unusual morning game at the Bridgeport Islanders en route to a 4-1 win on Wednesday. Richard burned past the defenders to create his own breakaway and then Gendron  impressively somehow got off a shot in tight quarters with a little flip between a defender’s legs and into the upper-far corner. Parker Gahagen (11-3-2) had another solid performance with 25 saves while J.R. Avon (7th) and Ethan Samson (11th) completed the scoring. Adam Ginning contributed a pair of assists for a second straight game and Jett Luchanko had another assist for a two-game point streak.

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 will make his home debut as a member of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms but he’s played at PPL Center before back in September during the Flyers vs. Rangers Rookie Series. He made his Phantoms debut in a pair of games last weekend and now carries a two-game point streak into tonight 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 while also departing the team in December to represent Canada at the World Juniors. 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. Both players have yet to make their pro debuts but can potentially get a chance in the lineup in the near future.
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.

– Second-year pro Ethan Samson is the first Phantoms defenseman to score 10 or more goals in a season since Ronnie Attard had 12 goals in 2022-23. Samson had two goals in the team’s three-game road trip and also as four goals in the last eight games.

– It’s down to the wire for the team goal-scoring title. Jacob Gaucher (20) is still on top but 21-year-old rookie Alexis Gendron (19) has three goals in the last seven games to close the gap.

– Parker Gahagen has been especially strong in the second half of the season, rating as one of the best goaltenders in the AHL since December 28. The 31-year-old Army Captain has gone 10-2-1, 1.91, .930 since the Holiday Break. In his last two games since his return to the Phantoms from Reading, Gahagen has gone 2-0-0, 1.00, .961 with 49 saves on 51 shots.

BEAT THE BEARS! – Hershey (39-18-7) is hanging on to first place in the Atlantic but the lead is down to just three points ahead of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Charlotte. All is not peachy in Chocolatetown following stunning back-to-back losses to last-place Utica 4-2 and 7-4. The Phantoms and Bears will meet three times in the final six games of the regular season. Hershey’s record on the road of 22-5-6 is best in the AHL.
Defenseman Ethan Bear (10-34-44) leads the team in scoring and has racked up 2-6-8 against the Phantoms including a game-winning goal at PPL Center in November. Ethan Bear’s +32 rating is second in the AHL and first in the conference and he is also sixth among all defensemen in scoring. Alex Limoges (15-25-40) is one of the all-time great Penn State alums who led the NCAA in scoring in 2017-18 as a sophomore and he was certainly pleased with last week’s NCAA results at PPL Center. Hunter Shepard (22-11-3, 2.81, .891) has been recalled to Washington and has not been as strong this year. The Phantoms are 3-3-1 against the two-time defending Calder Cup Champs including 1-1-1 at PPL Center. The Bears are 4-2-1 against Lehigh Valley. The Phantoms and Bears will meet three times over the last six games of the season. J.R. Avon (1-4-5) and Jacob Gaucher (3-0-3) are among Lehigh Valley’s scoring leaders in the season series while Cal Petersen (3-2-1, 2.46, .911) has been especially strong against our I-78 rivals.

Scoring Leaders
Phantoms
x – Olle Lycksell 17-24-41
Jacob Gaucher 20-16-36
Anthony Richard 16-19-35
Samu Tuomaala 11-21-32
Zayde Wisdom 13-17-30
Alexis Gendron 19-8-27

Bears
Ethan Bear 10-34-44
Alex Limoges 15-25-40
Pierrick Dubé 19-20-39
Ivan Miroshnichenko 19-18-37
Mike Vecchione 18-19-37
Chase Priskie 12-22-34

Special Teams:
Lehigh Valley – PP 17.1%, 24th / PK 80.4%, 22nd / PP vs. HER 1-20, 5.0%
Hershey – PP 19.2%, 11th / PK 83.8%, 8th / PP vs. LV 3-27, 11.1%

SEASON SERIES (3-3-1)
10/30/24                    Away         W             2-1
11/16/24                     Home        L              3-6
11/29/24                    Home        W             2-1 (OT)
12/7/24                      Home        OTL           2-3 (OT)
12/8/24                      Away         L              4-5
1/7/25                       Away         W             5-4
3/2/25                       Away         L              0-4
4/4/25                       Home
4/12/25                      Home
4/19/25                      Away

SERIES LEADERS
Lehigh Valley
x – Olle Lycksell 2-3-5
J.R. Avon 1-4-5
Samu Tuomaala 1-3-4
Anthony Ricahard 0-4-4
Jacob Gaucher 3-0-3
Cal Petersen 3-2-1, 2.46, .911

Hershey
Ethan Bear 2-6-8
Mike Sgarbossa 2-4-6
Pierrick Dube 1-4-5
x – Ethan Frank 3-1-4
Mike Vecchione 2-2-4
Hunter Shepard 3-2-0, 3.03, .804

COMING UP –  The Phantoms are back at PPL Center on Saturday taking on the Springfield Thunderbirds, AHL affiliate of the St. Louis Blues. Hispanic Heritage Night will feature the return of “Los Fantasmas.”

UPCOMING

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post PREVIEW: Phantoms vs. Bears, Game #67 appeared first on Lehigh Valley Phantoms.