PREVIEW: Phantoms at Springfield, Game 34

Lehigh Valley Brings 6-Game Point Streak to New England

TONIGHT – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (18-11-4) have a three-game win streak and also a six-game point streak (5-0-1) as they travel to New England to take on the Springfield Thunderbirds (13-14-6), AHL affiliate of the St. Louis Blues.

The Phantoms have moved into third place in the Atlantic Division and are playing Game 3 out of 4 on their current road trip. This is also Game 3 out of 6 between the Phantoms and T-Birds with the season series currently tied at one game apiece. Tonight is Game 34 of the 2025-26 season.

Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for tonight’s game at www.phantomshockey.com/media/media-materials/

LAST TIME – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms pulled away with a four-goal outburst in the third period as they routed the Toronto Marlies 6-1 on Sunday evening to wrap up their perfect Canadian weekend. Oliver Bonk was one of nine different goal scorers on the weekend as the rookie defenseman’s shorthanded strike was the first goal of his pro career. Aleksei Kolosov stole the show with 29 saves in one of his best performances with several big stops when the game was still close. The Phantoms extended their point streak to six while also snapping Toronto’s five-game win streak. Lane Pederson (12th) paced the attack with a goal and two assists. Cooper Marody (4th), Karsen Dorwart (5th), Alexis Gendron (6th), and Garrett Wilson (3rd) all found the back of the net for the Orange and Black as well.

KOLOSOV HONORED – The American Hockey League has announced that Lehigh Valley Phantoms goaltender Aleksei Kolosov has been selected as the Howies Hockey Tape/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending January 4, 2026. Kolosov stopped 60 of the 61 shots he faced in two starts for the Phantoms last week, good for a 0.50 goals-against average and a .984 save percentage. On Wednesday evening, Kolosov made 31 saves as Lehigh Valley posted a 3-0 shutout of Hershey. And on Sunday, he celebrated his 24th birthday by turning aside 29 shots as the Phantoms earned a 6-1 victory at Toronto. Kolosov was selected as the game’s first star in both contests.

This is the ninth time a Lehigh Valley Phantoms player has won AHL Player of the Week honors and it is the first time for a Lehigh Valley goaltender to snag the award.

Phantoms AHL Player of the Week Winners
Lehigh Valley Phantoms (9)
Aleksei Kolosov – Jan 5, 2026
Olle Lycksell – Dec 22, 2024
Tanner Laczynski – Nov 20, 2023
Olle Lycksell – Oct 22, 2023
Cooper Marody – Mar 13, 2023
Max Willman – Feb 28, 2021
Colin McDonald – Jan 31, 2016
Nick Cousins – Mar 15, 2015
Scott Laughton – Oct 19, 2014 (Scored First Goal at PPL Center)

STREAKING AND PEAKING – Lehigh Valley’s six-game point streak (5-0-1) since December 20 is the team’s longest since a six-game streak early last season from October 30 through November 13, 2024. Lehigh Valley’s record is a nine-game point streak (going 7-0-2) in the 2021-22 season from December 11, 2021 through January 14, 2022.

BRILLIANT BJARNASON – 20-year-old rookie netminder Carson Bjarnason has hardly looked like he’s in his debut professional season. The 6’4″ goaltender out of the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL has gone 8-3-3, 2.50, .912. Since December 1, Bjarnason has been red hot going 4-1-1, 2.11, .927. He has also proven to be a shootout specialist this season with a league-leading three shootout wins as well as five shootout games. He also has 17 total shootout saves to lead the AHL which includes a perfect 8-for-8 performance in Lehigh Valley’s December 13th marathon skills competition win at Rochester.

THREE IS A MAGIC NUMBER – The Phantoms have gone 16-1-2 when scoring three or more goals in a game. Lehigh Valley is 13-0-1 when holding opponents to fewer than three goals in a game.

HOT STARTS – Lehigh Valley is 12-0-2 when scoring the first goal of the game. The Phantoms and the Grand Rapids Griffins are the only two teams undefeated in regulation when scoring the first goal. Lehigh Valley is also a perfect 9-0-0 when leading at the first intermission. Only three other teams have perfect marks in that department (Chicago, Grand Rapids, Providence).

GINNING RECALLED – The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled defenseman Adam Ginning from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Ginning, 25, has played in five games with the Flyers this year and also has 15 games of NHL experience in his career. He has played in 17 games with Lehigh Valley this season scoring one goal with two assists and has played in 212 career games with the Phantoms over parts of four seasons scoring 8-46-54. Last year, the left-handed shooting defenseman from Linkoping, Sweden scored 2-15-17 in 69 games with Lehigh Valley. The 6’3″ blueliner was a Round 2 (#50 overall) selection of the Flyers in the 2018 NHL Draft.

TRANSACTIONS –
12/31/25 Add Philip Tomasino (F) – Acquired trade from PIT, loaned to LV
12/31/25 Add Anthony Richard – Assigned to LV (from CAN Spengler Cup)
1/3/26 Del Carson Golder (F) – Loaned to Reading by LV
1/7/26 Add Yaniv Perets (G) – Recalled by LV from Reading
1/10/26 Del Yaniv Perets (G) – Loaned to Reading
1/10/26 Del Adam Ginning (D) – Recalled by Flyers from LV

TUSSLE WITH THE T-BIRDS – Springfield (13-14-6) had a dismal start with just two wins in its first 15 games but the T-Birds have certainly found their way since then having gone 11-4-3 in the last seven weeks while also snagging points in nine of their last 13 going 8-3-2. They put up a 7-4 win over Hartford last night, bouncing back from an early 4-2 deficit in a nice rebound from the 5-1 trouncing they took at Utica on Wednesday. Springfield has risen from the cellar to take hold of sixth place in the division, above the playoff cutline. Matt Luff (11-15-26) is an AHL veteran also with 111 career NHL games. Matthew Peca (5-16-21) is in his fifth season as captain of the T-Birds and finished 6th in the AHL in scoring last year setting career highs with 31 goals and 63 points. 20-year-old Juraj Pekarcik (5-10-15) of Slovakia was a St. Louis Blues third-rounder in 2023. Defenseman Theo Lindstein (2-6- of Sweden was a first-rounder. Aleksanteri Kaskimaki (9-6-15) had two goals last night and is a second-year pro who made his NHL debut a month ago.

This is Game 3 out of 6 in the season series and is also the Phantoms’ first visit to Springfield this year. The Phantoms romped to a 7-3 win on November 14 but Springfield evened the series with a 3-1 decision at PPL Center on December 17.

SCORING LEADERS
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Lane Pederson 12-13-25
Alex Bump 7-13-20
Anthony Richard 8-10-18
x – Denver Barkey 8-8-16
x – Carl Grundstrom 6-9-15
Alexis Gendron 6-9-15
Christian Kyrou 4-10-14

Springfield Scoring Leaders
Matt Luff 11-15-26
Matthew Peca 5-16-21
Chris Wagner 9-7-16
Juraj Pekarcik 5-10-15
Aleksanteri Kaskimäki 9-6-15

Special Teams PP / PK (Season Series PP)
LV 18.9%, 18th / 78.1%, 26th (Season Series 2/4, 50.0%)
SPR 19.2%, 16th / 84.8%, 4th (Season Series 0/7, 0.0%)

Season Series vs. Springfield Thunderbirds: (1-1-0)
11/14/25 Home W 7-3
12/17/25 Home L 1-3
1/10/26 Away
1/30/26 Away
3/27/26 Home
4/15/26 Away

LOOKING AHEAD – The road trip concludes with an afternoon contest at the Providence Bruins on Sunday, January 11.

The Phantoms return to PPL Center on Friday, January 16 against the Bridgeport Islanders and Saturday, January 17 against the Syracuse Crunch on Air Products Night.

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