Phantoms Weekly

Two Home Games This Weekend

January 29, 2025

Allentown, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (20-16-4) wrap up January and enter February with a busy weekend that begins on the road before the Orange and Black return to PPL Center for divisional rivalry games on Saturday and Sunday. The Phantoms are coming off a thrilling overtime win over the Hershey Bears in a playoff-intensity battle last Saturday.

Lehigh Valley travels to Springfield for a Friday night engagement with the Springfield Thunderbirds. Then Saturday sees the Bridgeport Islanders roll into Allentown. It’s a Sunday matinee delight against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to close out the busy slate. Sunday’s game includes meLVin Youth Jerseys for the first 2,5000 kids presented by LVHN Reilly Children’s Hospital, Service Electric, and Velaspan.

Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for upcoming games here: https://www.phantomshockey.com/media/media-materials/

LAST WEEK
Friday, January 23 – Charlotte Checkers 8 at Phantoms 5
Saturday, January 24 – Hershey Bears 3 at Phantoms 4 (OT)

THE WEEK AHEAD
Friday, January 30 (7:05) – Phantoms at Springfield Thunderbirds
Saturday, January 31 (7:05) – Bridgeport Islanders at Phantoms
Sunday, February 1 (3:05) – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Phantoms

WEEKLY RECAP
Friday, January 23, 2026
Charlotte Checkers 8 at Phantoms 5
The goals came fast and frequently. And practically in record proportions. The Lehigh Valley Phantoms kept digging their way out of tough deficits but ultimately were never able to equalize and the Checkers hung on for a wild 8-5 victory at PPL Center on Friday night. Karsen Dorwart (6th, 7th) scored a pair of goals in the second period to twice pull the Phantoms to within a single tally. Not bad for a team that had dug itself a three-goal hole to begin the contest when Charlotte led 4-1 in the first period. Alexis Gendron (8th) also made it a one-goal game in the third period with just 5:04 left as it appeared the Phantoms may have yet another miraculous comeback in them. But the Checkers scored two empty-netters to seal the victory while extending their point streak to six. Lehigh Valley also had goals from Christian Kyrou (6th) and Anthony Richard (11th) who was skating in his 600th career professional game.

Saturday, January 24, 2026
Hershey Bears 3 at Phantoms 4 (OT)
Tucker Robertson raced up ice for a fabulous overtime-winning goal to down the Hershey Bears 4-3 on Saturday night putting the finishing touches on one of the most exciting games of the year. After two fights in the opening 13 seconds set the tone, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms erased an early deficit, battled through a frantic third period, and ultimately prevailed in overtime against in a fierce rivalry battle on Saturday night at PPL Center. Robertson (6th, 7th) had his first multi-goal game. Zayde Wisdom (6th) had a goal and an assist while Karsen Dorwart (8th) scored his third of the weekend and Garrett Wilson had a pair of important assists. The victory was sealed when Tucker Robertson struck at 3:13 of overtime, capping a dramatic back-and-forth contest and after the Phantoms had seen a late third-period lead slip away in the final moments of regulation.

TUCKER TERRIFIC – Forward Tucker Robertson has had a flare for the dramatic and a proclivity for scoring big goals in clutch moments. The Toronto native scored an eighth-round shootout winner at Rochester on December 13 and has since been a regular in the shootout competition rotation going 3-for-3to tie for the league lead. On December 29, he scored a tying goal against Charlotte with just 1.7 seconds left as the Phantoms climbed off the mat to steal a point in the game’s final moments. On January 24, Robertson scored his first career overtime goal with a speedy rush up the left wing, flying past the defender, to drive to the net for the exciting winner against Hershey. It was also his first career multi-goal game. Robertson was acquired by the Flyers from the Seattle Kraken organization on September 4 in exchange for J.R. Avon and the change of scenery has paid huge dividends for the third-year pro who has already set career scoring highs with seven goals and eight assists for 15 points.

WELCOME BACK – The Philadelphia Flyers have returned goaltender Aleksei Kolosov and defenseman Hunter McDonald to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The Phantoms have also recalled forward Carson Golder from the Reading Royals of the ECHL.
Kolosov, 24, has started 19 games for the Phantoms this season, compiling a 9-9-1 record, 2.54 GAA, and .908 SV%. The Minsk, Belarus native has appeared in four games with the Flyers this season going 0-2-0, 4.00, .830. Kolosov was recently named AHL Player of the Week on January 5 following a pair of games in which he stopped a combined 60 out of 61 shots including his second career shutout on December 31 against Hershey.
McDonald, 23, is in his second full season of professional hockey. He received his first NHL recall on January 17 but did not appear in any games with the Flyers. McDonald has played in 33 games with the Phantoms this season recording five assists and he has played in 115 career games with the Phantoms scoring 4-22-26. A 6’4″ product of Fairport, NY, McDonald was a Round 6 selection of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2022. The hard-working and shot-blocking blueliner played three seasons at Northeastern University.
Golder, 23, has played in three games with the Phantoms making his Lehigh Valley debut on December 28. The third-year pro is tops on the Reading Royals in scoring with 13-13-26 in 34 games. He has played in 28 career games in the AHL over parts of three seasons recording 2-7-9. The 6’2″ left wing out of Smithers, BC has also played in 107 career ECHL games with Norfolk and Reading scoring 46-40-76. Golder previously played in the Western Hockey League with the Victoria Royals, Edmonton Oil Kings and Kelowna Rockets.

TRANSACTIONS –
1/27/26 Add Hunter McDonald (D) – Loaned to LV by PHI
1/28/26 Del Hunter Johannes (F) – Loaned to Reading
1/28/26 Del Yaniv Perets (F) – Loaned to Reading
1/28/26 Add Carson Golder (F) – Recalled from Reading
1/28/26 Add Aleksei Kolosov (G) – Loaned to LV by PHI

WORKING OVERTIME – The Phantoms are tied for second in the AHL with eight victories after regulation. Tucson’s nine post-regulation successes is first.
Tucker Robertson’s overtime strike against Hershey on Saturday pushed the Phantoms to 4-2 in OT this season. Lehigh Valley is also 4-2 in shootouts for a combined record of 8-4 in decisions after regulation. Goaltender Carson Bjarnason is tied for the AHL lead with three shootout wins in five shootout games having turned away 17 of 20 shootout attempts faced.

EARLY STRIKE – The Phantoms are 12-0-2 when scoring the first goal of the game. Lehigh Valley and Grand Rapids are the only teams in the AHL still undefeated in regulation when striking first. The Phantoms are also 9-0-0 when leading at the first intermission and are one of three teams still perfect (Chicago and Grand Rapids the others) when holding the advantage at the first break.

SATURDAY SUPERSTARS – The Phantoms boast an impressive mark on Saturdays this season going 11-2-2. Seven of the 15 Saturday games have gone to overtime or shootout and the Phantoms are 6-0-1 in those Saturday extra-time contests.

UPCOMING –
Friday, January 30, 2026 (7:05 p.m.)
MassMutual Center, Springfield, MA
Phantoms at Springfield Thunderbirds
Last-place Springfield (14-20-6) had made a nice push into the division’s top 6 but the wheels seemed to come off during a five-game losing streak that included a pair of 8-2 losses at Charlotte and eventually the ousting of head coach Steve Konowalchuk with St. Louis associate coach Steve Ott coming down from the big club to run the show. Ott played in over 848 NHL games, mostly with Dallas, while accumulating 1,555 penalty minutes. The T-Birds are allowing 3.6 goals per game, worst in the AHL. Leading scorer Matt Luff (13-20-33) has been recalled to St. Louis. Captain Matthew Peca (8-19-27) is in his fifth season with the T-Birds and his a veteran of 517 career games in the AHL. Chris Wagner (11-8-19) has played 401 games in the NHL mostly with Anaheim and Boston. Former Calgary Flame Dillon Dube (3-5-8) has played 325 NHL games and was signed to a PTO last month. The Phantoms are 2-1-0 against Springfield entering the fourth of six matchups this season. On January 10, Anthony Richard scored the winning goal at Springfield with just 11.9 seconds left to cap a three-goal comeback in the third period after the Phantoms were down 2-0.

Saturday, January 30, 2026 (7:05 p.m.)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Bridgeport Islanders at Phantoms
Bridgeport (17-18-4) used a five-game winning streak to zip past Springfield and Hartford into the sixth place postion in the division above the playoff cutline. More recently, the Islanders have lost back-to-back nailbiters including an overtime heartbreaker against first-place Providence on Saturday. The Islanders have especially frustrated the Phantoms this season to the tune of wins in three out of the four meetings including a pair of triumphs at PPL Center. The last encounter in Bridgeport on January 19 saw the Islanders knock in four goals in the first period en route to a 6-2 win. Former Minnesota draft selection Adam Beckman (16-9-25) had a hat trick in that game and has scored 5-1-6 in the season series. Michigan State product Joey Larson (13-11-24) is having a strong rookie campaign. 36-year-old sniper Chris Terry (8-9-17) is heating up a bit and is tied with Denis Hamedl for 11th all-time with 338 career goals. Veteran defenseman Ethan Bear (1-6-7) has played in 275 NHL games but had a preseason injury with the Islanders. Bear has recently begun his season and had one goal and three assists against Lehigh Valley in the two meetings two weekends ago. Former Flyers assistant coach Rocky Thompson is the first-year bench boss for the B-Isles.

Sunday, February 1, 2026 (3:05)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
W-B/Scranton Penguins at Phantoms
The Penguins keep plugging along despite more roster movement than usual. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (27-12-4) is holding steady at second place in the division and also boasts a 4-1 lead in the season series with the Phantoms but Lehigh Valley snagged the last encounter in a 4-3 shootout win on December 28 at PPL Center. Sam Poulin, Danton Heinen and Valterri Puustinen are all gone via trade or waiver claims. And they also lost Phil Tomasino to the Phantoms in the Egor Zamula trade on December 31. Second-year pro Tristan Broz (14-14-28) has shaken out of a little slump to post 4-4-8 in the last five games and will represent the Penguins at the AHL All-Star Classic. Rafaël Harvey-Pinard (10-8-18) had a two-goal game against the Phantoms in November. Second-year pro Sergei Murashov (15-5-0, 2.18, 922) still has impressive numbers but is no longer the top goaltender in the league after allowing 21 goals in his last six games. Murashov is 3-0-0, 1.38, .958 against the Phantoms this season. University of Michigan product Rutger McGroaty (4-8-12) was briefly back with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton but has since been recalled to Pittsburgh again. Ville Koivunen (5-12-17) has spent most of the season with PIttsburgh but has recently returned to Wilkes. Koivunen led the Baby Pens last year with 21-35-56 and was a member of the AHL All-Rookie Team. The Penguins are dead last in the AHL on the power play at 12.8% but overall are scoring 3.2 goals per contest to rate 12th.

Phantoms Scoring Leaders
x – Lane Pederson 13-15-28
Anthony Richard 11-11-22
Alex Bump 7-13-20
Alexis Gendron 8-10-18
Christian Kyrou 6-12-18
x – Denver Barkey 7-9-16

Atlantic Division Standings:
1. Providence 30-8-1 = 61
2. W-B/Scranton 27-12-4 = 58
3. Charlotte 25-12-3 = 53
4. Hershey 19-14-7 = 45
5. Lehigh Valley 20-16-4 = 44
6. Bridgeport 17-18-4 = 38
7. Hartford 16-20-5 = 37
8. Springfield 14-20-6 = 34

LOOKING AHEAD – The Phantoms are on the road this Friday night at the Springfield Thunderbirds and then return to PPL Center for a pair of games on Saturday, January 31 against the Bridgeport Islanders and Sunday, February 1 at 3:05 p.m. against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on meLVin Youth Jersey Day presented by LVHN Reilly Children’s Hospital, Service Electric, and Velaspan.

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