7 Goal Surge, Win Streak at 5
Phantoms Light it Up 7-3 Over T-Birds
November 14, 2025
Allentown, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms continued their torrid November pace on Friday night, lighting up the scoreboard in a 7-3 win over the Springfield Thunderbirds at PPL Center. It was Lehigh Valley’s most complete offensive performance of the season, stretching the team’s winning streak to five games and pushing the Phantoms to an impressive 9-3-1 start — one of the best 13-game openings in franchise history.
Alex Bump (4th) led the attack with one goal and two assists while Lane Pederson racked up a season-high three helpers in extending his point streak to five. Denver Barkey (3rd, 4th), also on that top line, contributed a pair of goals including the last one of the night which was more good fortune on his end than anything else.
Bump has had four multi-point games in just 13 contests, a remarkable pace for the first-year pro who has been generating strong chemistry with his linemates, Barkey and Pederson.
“When we’re connecting and clicking well, I think we can do that to most teams in this league,” Bump said. “We’re a very offensive, possession-focused team, and it’s hard for teams to defend us when we’re skating.”
Alexis Gendron (3rd) scored for a second consecutive game while Carl Grundstrom (4th) and Anthony Richard (4th) both had a goal and an assist in setting each other up. Zayde Wisdom (3rd) joined the attack as well as Lehigh Valley (9-3-1) cranked out a season-high seven goals.
“If we just start to play the way we expect ourselves to play and play to our standards, things should go our way,” said head coach John Snowden. “Tonight was a good example of us recognizing when it was time to elevate.”
It was a balanced scoring attack that saw 11 players make it onto the scoresheet including five players with multiple points.
“We’ve been a pretty good offensive team so far,” Richard said. “Whatever line combination we put out there, it seems to click. It just shows how skilled this group is.”
Gendron opened the scoring midway through the first when he took a beautifully timed stretch pass from Devin Kaplan, glided in alone, and slid a composed five-hole finish past Vadim Zherenko to give Lehigh Valley the early lead. It was the kind of confident, assertive play that has defined Gendron’s early season, and the building erupted.
Springfield answered on the power play with Chris Wagner’s power-play blast equaling the count.
Just over a minute later, the Phantoms punched right back. Zherenko made a sprawling initial stop on Grundstrom, but the rebound sat loose in the low slot long enough for Anthony Richard to fight through traffic and bury it for a 2-1 lead with 4:14 remaining in the frame.
The Phantoms extended their lead to 3-1 with 16:31 left in the second period off an intercept by thriving newcomer Christian Kyrou who sent Wisdom speeding up the left wing to snap a precise low glove-side shot inside the far post to make it 3-1. It was the Phantoms’ first shot of the period — and it was a statement. For Kyrou, it extended the talented defenseman’s point streak to five games (1-7-8).
Springfield (2-9-2) responded with urgency. Logan Mailloux’s 6-on-5 blast on a delayed penalty followed 25 seconds later by Sam Stange’s shot from the blue line through a maze of bodies tied it 3-3.
But as they’ve done throughout this hot stretch, the Phantoms didn’t blink.
Only 90 seconds after the tying goal, Springfield was caught in a disastrous line change, leaving Lane Pederson and Alex Bump alone on a clear-cut 2-on-0 breakaway. Zherenko made the initial save on Pederson, but the trailing Bump read it perfectly, swooped in, and tapped home the rebound at 7:50 to restore the Phantoms’ lead at 4-3.
Aleksei Kolosov (5-2-0) made his best save of the night just a few minutes later when he sprwaled to his left to rob Chris Wagner at the backdoor. The second-year goaltender’s acrobatics preserved the margin into the second intermission.
The third period was a complete takeover.
Just 4:15 into the frame, a gorgeous passing sequence zipped east-west across the offensive zone before landing cleanly on the stick of Denver Barkey in the right circle. The rookie wasted no time, ripping home a rising shot to put the Phantoms ahead 5-3 and kick off what would become a dominant period. Kyrou’s keep at the blue line may not have gone down as an official assist on the play but was the third time he made a valuable contribution to a Phantoms tally.
Five minutes later, Grundström added to the onslaught, stepping into space between the hash marks to receive a feed from behind the net by Richard. Grundström’s heavy shot pushed the lead to 6-3 with 9:40 left and chased any remaining hope Springfield had of climbing back into the game.
Only 44 seconds later, Barkey struck again on a speedy setup by Bump who went coast-to-coast to zip into the Springfield zone. After showcasing his smooth hands to dangle around a T-Birds defenseman , Bump found an open Barkey in the right circle who was the benefactor of a fortuitous bounce. Bump’s seam-pass went through Barkey’s big swing but then hit off his skate and into the goal. Because there was no distinct kicking motion, Barkey received an unusual second goal of the night for a 7-3 lead with 8:56 remaining.
By night’s end, the Phantoms had outshot Springfield 29–20 and outscored them 3–0 in the third period. While the Thunderbirds had brief flashes of momentum, Lehigh Valley dictated the majority of the game with superior structure, quicker transition, sharper pace, and a deeper, more dangerous offensive push.
The Phantoms have now scored 20 goals over their last four games, giving them one of the most dangerous forward groups in the AHL as the season heads toward the Thanksgiving stretch.
Lehigh Valley looks to keep it going Saturday night during Phan Con Night at PPL Center when the rival Hershey Bears come to town before the teams wrap up the home-and-home on Sunday afternoon in Chocolatetown.
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