Phantoms Weekly

Win Streak at 4

November 11, 2025

Allentown, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (8-3-1) are off to one of their best starts in team history following an especially strong opening month of the 2025-26 season. The Phantoms are on a four-game win streak and are among the top teams in the Atlantic Division. And the Phantoms have achieved the bulk of their success on the road having played eight away games so far against only four home games.

The homestand continues this weekend with the Springfield Thunderbirds (St. Louis) and rival Hershey Bears (Washington) arriving for Friday and Saturday showdowns. Friday’s game is Berks Dollar Dog Night and Saturday features our second Phan Con with lots of Superhero Fun.

LAST WEEK
November 5 – Phantoms 6 – Bridgeport Islanders 2
November 8 – Phantoms 3 – Toronto Marlies 2

THE WEEK AHEAD
Friday, November 14 (7:05) – Springfield Thunderbirds at Phantoms
Saturday, November 15 (7:05) – Hershey Bears at Phantoms
Sunday, November 16 (3:00) – Phantoms at Hershey Bears

WEEKLY RECAP
Wednesday, November 5, 2025
Phantoms 6 – Bridgeport Islanders 2
Denver Barkey (2nd) racked up four points on one goal and three assists to propel the Phantoms on the road at Bridgeport in a 6-2 win. Lane Pederson contributed a pair of goals including an empty-netter to finish it off. Alex Bump (3rd) had a breakaway goal in the first period on a pickoff at center by Barkey and then later added an assist. The game was closer than the final score indicated. Bridgeport had tied it 2-2 in the third period on Matthew Highmore’s power-play deflection at the net-front and had a significant shots advantage before Barkey and Company took over with four straight goals to close out the night. Carson Bjarnason (33/35) backstopped a solid defensive effort that held the Islanders to 1-for-9 on the power play.

Saturday, November 8, 2025
Phantoms 3 – Toronto Marlies 2
The Phantoms returned to PPL Center for the first time in 15 days and delighted the home crowd with a second-period energy surge that included a season-high 17-shot barrage leading to three straight goals. Devin Kaplan (3rd), Lane Pederson (5th) and Alexis Gendron (2nd) all lit the lamp in a 3-2 win over the Marlies. The Phantoms also blasted out a season-high 36 shots in the game. Lehigh Valley’s fourth consecutive victory also ended Toronto’s three-game win streak. Christian Kyrou had a two-assist night, his third consecutive multi-point performance.

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

TRANSACTIONS –
11/6/25 Add Jacob Gaucher (F) – Loaned to LV by PHI
11/7/25 Add Aleksei Kolosov (G) – Loaned to LV by PHI
11/7/25 Del Yaniv Perets (G) – Loaned by LV to Reading
11/7/25 Del Carl Grundstrom (F) – Recalled to PHI

SHOOTING LANE – Veteran center addition Lane Pederson has found his scoring touch while racking up a four-game point streak. The 27-year-old from Moose Jaw, SK who has played in almost 400 pro games signed with the Philadelphia Flyers as a free agent last July. Recently, Pederson has been centering for rookie wingers Denver Barkey and Alex Bump. Pederson’s scoring surge began with an overtime winner on October 31 at Hartford on a 2-on-1 with Bump. He followed that up with a two-goal game at Bridgeport on Sunday and then added another goal with an assist in Lehigh Valley’s 3-2 win over Toronto on Saturday. Pederson leads the Phantoms with five goals in his first experience in the Eastern Conference. He has previously played in the AHL with Bakersfield, Abbotsford, Tucson, San Jose and Chicago and he also has 71 games of NHL experience with Columbus, San Jose, Vancouver and Arizona.

KYROU KRUSHING IT – Christian Kyrou has been an impressive force from the blueline since joining the Phantoms on October 30. The right-handed shooting defenseman has racked up one goal with six assists in just four games played with his new team since being acquired from the Dallas Stars in a trade for Samu Tuomaala. His creative stretch-pass to Lane Pederson who neatly connected with a speeding Alexis Gendron for a breakwway goal on Saturday was good for Kyrou’s third consecutive multi-point game.

SQUEAKERS – Lehigh Valley’s success has largely come in the clutch and in tight games. The Phantoms are 5-0-1 in one-goal contests to lead the AHL in most one-goal victories. The Phantoms are 3-1 after regulation to tie for the most wins after 60 minutes. Lehigh Valley has a 2-0 mark in overtimes and 1-1 in shootouts. In Lehigh Valley’s current four-game win streak, three of the wins have been decided by one goal including back-to-back overtime wins at Hartford to begin the streak.

HOT START – Lehigh Valley’s 8-3-1 mark after 12 games is among the best for the franchise all-time.
John Snowden has set a new franchise record for best start by a new Phantoms head coach.

Phantoms Franchise – Best Record After 12 Games
2007-08: 10-1-1
2004-05: 10-2-0 (part of 17-game win streak)
2017-18: 8-2-2
2020-21: 8-2-2 (shortened season)
2025-26: 8-3-1

MILESTONES –
– Tucker Robertson, 98 pro games
– Garrett Wilson, 896 pro games
– Garrett Wilson, 298 games with Phantoms (Lehigh Valley record)
– Lane Pederson, 394 pro games
– Anthony Richard, 190 pro assists
– Zayde Wisdom, 200th game with Phantoms (Nov 5, 2025 LV at BRI)
– Christian Kyrou, 100th pro game (Nov 5, 2025 LV at BRI)

UPCOMING –
Friday, November 14, 2025 (7:05 p.m.)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Springfield Thunderbirds at Phantoms
NHL veteran and Boston Bruins legend Milan Lucic has joined on a tryout deal. But otherwise, there hasn’t been much to be excited about in Springfield (1-8-2) where the last-place Thunderbirds have dropped eight straight and have the worst record in the AHL. Last weekend, they were swept by the Bridgeport Islanders by the tennis-like count of 6-2, 6-1. The 37-year-old Lucic has joined the T-Birds on a tryout deal just down the Mass Turnpike from where he won a Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins in 2011. Lucic has 1177 NHL games and 233 goals with 1301 penalty minutes but hasn’t played a full season since the 2022-23 campaign with Calgary. He also has 136 careeer Snaley Cup Playoff games scoring 29 goals. First-rounder Dalibor Dvorsky was recalled to St. Louis. 2019 second-rounder Nikita Alexandrov (1-7-8) leads the team in scoring and had 21 goals last year. Third-rounder Dylan Peterson (2-3-5) is in his second year of pro hockey and was previously teammates with Lehigh Valley’s Devin Kaplan at Boston University. 32-year-old captain Matthew Peca (2-5-7) in his fifth season with Springfield and cranked out 32-31-63 last year to finish sixth in the AHL in goals and points. Former long-time Washington Capitals winger Steve Konowalchuk is in his second season at the bench for skaters from Springy.
Lehigh Valley’s Jacob Gaucher recorded a hat trick at Springfield on November 2, 2024 but that was Lehigh Valley’s only win in four tries against the T-Birds. Vadim Zherenko (1-3-2, 3.06, .907) posted a 38-save shutout in a 1-0 overtime thriller in his last appearance at PPL Center on April 5, 2025.

Saturday, November 15, 2025 (7:05 p.m.)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Hershey Bears at Phantoms
and
Sunday, November 16, 2025 (3:00 p.m.)
Giant Center, Hershey, PA
Phantoms at Hershey Bears
Hershey (6-4-1) started slowly for new head coach Derek King but have since been figuring it out with wins in four of its last five. The Phantoms and Bears split an earlier home-and-home series October 24-25 with the Phantoms prevailed at PPL Center 5-4 on Zayde Wisdom’s winning strike with 43.6 seconds left followed by Hershey’s shootout triumph in Chocolatetown the next day. Former Phantom Matt Strome (3-4-7) leads the Bears in offense. Graeme Clarke (4-2-6) had a two-goal game in Allentown in the first matchup and previously had back-to-back 25-goal campaigns with Utica in 2022-23 and 2023-24. Corey Schueneman and Sam Bitten have joined from Springfield after a trade for Calle Rosen shortly after the veteran defenseman had scored an overtime winner for Hershey. Clay Stevenson (3-3-0, 3.00, .888) has dipped from his stellar form two seasons ago when he had four shutouts against the Phantoms of his seven total blank sheets on the season. Ryan Chesley (Round 2 2022, Univ Minnesota), Ilya Protas (Round 3 2024, Windsor-OHL), Andrew Cristal (Round 2 2023, Kelowna/Spokane-WHL), and Alex Suzdalev (Round 3, 2022) are among the strong rookie prospects in the Caps’ system. The Phantoms were 5-4-1 against Hershey last year but the Bears took down Lehigh Valley in a Best-of-5 Calder Cup Playoffs second-round series.

Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Anthony Richard 3-6-9
Alex Bump 3-5-8
Christian Kyrou 1-6-7
Lane Pederson 5-2-7
Denver Barkey 2-5-7

LOOKING AHEAD – The homestand continues on Friday, November 14 against the Springfield Thunderbirds and Saturday, November 15 taking on the Hershey Bears with our second annual Phan Con!
The Phantoms return the favor with a Sunday trip to Chocolatetown at 3:00 p.m.
The Phantoms are back at PPL Center on Wednesday, November 19 hosting the Rochester Americans on Military Appreciation Night presented by Netizen.

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