Phantoms Blast Away but Hershey Hangs On

Gendron Scores 20th

April 4, 2025

Allentown, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms largely outplayed the first-place Hershey Bears on Friday night at PPL Center but Clay Stevenson was the difference-maker in Hershey’s 2-1 win. Stevenson turned aside 32 of 33 shots he faced including several strong denials. Alexis Gendron (20th) broke through for the Phantoms in the third period and almost had the equalizer down low with 20 seconds left but Stevenson fought it off with the right shoulder as the Bears escaped with the rivalry decision.

Lehigh Valley (33-27-7) still has a Magic Number of four points to clinch a third consecutive berth in the Calder Cup Playoffs with five games remaining in the regular season. The Phantoms have an opportunity to clinch on Saturday night via a win over Springfield combined with a Hartford loss in regulation at Hershey.

Gendron’s 20th goal of the season moves him into a tie for the team lead with Jacob Gaucher. The 21-year-old rookie who was a seventh-round selection of the Flyers in 2023 has now scored goals in back-to-back games and has racked up for lamplighters in the last seven. He became the third Lehigh Valley rookie to score 20 goals in a season joining Elliot Desnoyers (23) in 2022-23 and Danick Martel (22) in 2015-16. He also moved into a tie for fourth in the AHL among rookies.

“He’s a goal scorer,” head coach Ian Laperriere said. “He has that touch and he has that gift which is great. But what I like about his game is the rest of it. He’s learning and he’s getting better and he’s taking pride in being a 200-foot player. He’s improving and he just turned 21 and he’s playing a lot of heavy hockey and meaningful hockey and we’re fighting for a playoff spot and it’s great for his career just to go through that.”

Fans also got their first look at newcomer Jett Luchanko in a Phantoms uniform. The 18-year-old first-round selection made his AHL debut during the recent three-game road trip and was appearing at PPL Center for the first time since the Flyers vs. Rangers Rooie Series in September. He highly touted prospect came as advertised as he continued to click on his line with fellow rookie Alexis Gendron and veteran captain Garrett Wilson.

The Phantoms were the better team for most of the night. That includes at the start when Lehigh Valley enjoyed a 13-6 shots advantage over first-place Hershey (40-18-7). J.R. Avon had a breakaway chance for the best try of the period but Stevenson pushed all of them away. Right after Avon’s breakaway chance nine minutes into the game, Adam Ginning dropped the gloves with Hershey’s Andrew Perrot in the first fight of the night.

Hershey (40-18-7) only managed four shots in the second period but somehow two of them found the back of the net. Luke Philp (7th) connected with a little chip from inside the left dot after the Bears worked it over from right to left at 2:41 into the frame for the first goal of the night.

Sawyer Boulton engaged in his sixth fight of the season shortly after that goal when he found a willing combatant in former Phantom Dalton Smith of the Bears. The son of former Philadelphia Flyer Derrick Smith had played in 11 games with the Phantoms nine years ago and was back at PPL Center to go up against the son of former NHL enforcer Eric Boulton. The younger Boulton and Smith likely made their respective fathers proud with a solid rivalry tilt and several strong connections that fired up the crowd.

Ethan Bear’s shot from center point would take a double-deflection at the net-front to beat Cal Petersen with both Ivan Miroshinichenko and Spencer Smallman getting quick little tips of the drive. Smallman (10th) was the last to tough it for the 2-0 lead at 9:13.

But the Phantoms pressed on and almost broke through in the final minutes of the period when Gendron received a cross-ice pass from Garrett Wilson and did a quick spin-o-rama from the right boards while spotting a moving Louie Belpedio streaking for the net-front. Gendron’s pass was on the money for Belpedio but Clay Stevenson ion the Hershey crease was also on the money in fighting it off for the big save to preserve Hershey’s 2-0 lead at the second intermission.

The Phantoms ratcheted up the energy and intensity even further in the third and finally did get one past Stevenson when Helge Grans broke up possession on the Hershey line to send Gendron striding up the right wing where he pulled the puck backwards to his forehand for a left-handed shot from the right circle that he angle perfectly to the upper-left corner for his 20th of the year with 8:01 left in the game.

But that was it for the Phantoms who weren’t able to find the equalizer despite a 6-on-4 opportunity on their first power play of the game with 1:14 remaining. Gendron in tight almost made it happen in the closing seconds but Stevenson stayed solid in holding down the fort and securing the win.

The Phantoms are back at home on Saturday against the Springfield Thunderbirds who remain one point behind the Phantoms in the battle for the 5th and 6th seeds. The Phantoms are 3-4-1 against Hershey and have two more games remaining against their I-78 rivals.

SCORING SUMMARY

2nd 2:41 – HER, L. Philp (7) (N. Leiverman, A. Perrott) (0-1)
2nd 9:13 – HER, S. Smallman (10) (I. Miroshnichenko, E. Bear) (0-2)

3rd 11:59 – LV, A. Gendron (20) (H. Grans) (1-2)

Shots:
LV 33 – HER 17

PP:
LV 0/1, HER 0/0

Goaltenders:
LV, C. Petersen (L) (11-15-3) (15/17)
HER, C. Stevenson (W) (16-7-4) (32/33)

Records:
Lehigh Valley (33-27-7)
Hershey (40-18-7)

UPCOMING

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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