Phantoms Weekly
Home for the Holidays – 6 Game Homestand
December 16, 2025
Allentown, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (13-9-3) have played the fewest home games and the most away games in the AHL. That changes beginning this week as the team opens a six-game homestand on Wednesday night which includes a Holiday Break in between.
Lehigh Valley remains in third place in the Atlantic Division following a marathon shootout win at the Rochester Americans on Saturday.
The Phantoms host the Springfield Thunderbirds on Wednesday with a pregame Happy Hour.
Friday night it’s the Bridgeport Islanders coming to town plus the Service Electric Network Warm-Up Drive with prizes at Chickie’s and Pete’s for fans who donate coats, clothing or blankets for those in need.
Saturday is one of the biggest nights of the year with the annual Teddy Bear Toss presented by Big Woody’s when the Phantoms host the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for upcoming games here: https://www.phantomshockey.com/media/media-materials/
LAST WEEK
Friday, December 12 – Phantoms 1 at Syracuse Crunch 3
Saturday, December 13 – Phantoms 2 at Rochester Americans 1 (SO)
THE WEEK AHEAD
Wednesday, December 17 (7:05) – Phantoms vs. Springfield Thunderbirds (STL)
Friday, December 19 (7:05) – Phantoms vs. Bridgeport Islanders (NYI)
Saturday, December 20 (7:05) – Phantoms vs. Hartford Wolf Pack (NYR)
WEEKLY RECAP
Friday, December 12, 2025
Phantoms 1 at Syracuse Crunch 3
There were plenty of Hellos and handshakes from former teammates before the game. But when the puck dropped it was all business as the Syracuse Crunch held off the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 3-1 on Friday night. The Phantoms almost pulled it off. Trying to shake off a sluggish start, Lehigh Valley racked up 11 shots in the third and Jacob Gaucher (4th) broke through late with a 6-on-4 goal to break Kevin Mandolese’s bid for a shutout. But it wasn’t enough and Syracuse held on 3-1.
Roman Schmidt made his Phantoms’ debut and did it against his former team. The hulking 6’5″ defenseman was acquired via trade on Monday for Ethan Samson who also got to see his ex-teammates.
Dylan Duke (8th) scored in the opening seconds of the second period on a deflection of a Conor Geekie power-play shot. Former Flyer Jakob Pelletier (13th) stuffed a shorthanded breakaway around the left pad of Kolosov on a pretty backhand move to make it 2-0. A late empty-netter for Geekie from 200 feet away in the corner capped the night.
Saturday, December 13, 2025
Phantoms 2 at Rochester Americans 1 (SO)
Tucker Robertson made it look easy. But apparently it was anything but that. His shootout goal in the eighth round was the ONLY one scored by 16 combined skaters as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms eventually emerged with a 2-1 marathon shootout win at the Rochester Americans on Saturday night. Carson Bjarnason was 8-for-8 in the shootout which naturally included some point-blank denials of some of the skilled Amerks’ forwards. Devon Levi was phenomenal for the Americans with 38 saves on 39 shots through 65 minutes to keep his team in the game. Jacob Gaucher (5th) stuffed in the tying goal partway through the second period on a set up by Oscar Eklind and Garrett Wilson. The marathon shootout was the longest of the season for the Phantoms in nine years.
CARSON CRUSHING IT – Rookie goaltender Carson Bjarnason has thrived at the pro level in his debut season. The 20-year-old from Carbury, Manitoba has gone 6-2-2, 2.52, .911. Bjarnason currently ratesd 10th in the AHL in GAA. And he’s been even better in his last four games going 3-0-1, 2.15, .920. Since October 31 he has only one regulation loss going 5-1-1, 2.51, .911.
Bjarnason has also been an ace in the shootout this season playing in four shootout games this year and going 2-2. Following his stellar 8-for-8 performance on Saturday, he has now allowed just two shootout goals on 16 total shooters which is the most shootout attempts seen for any goaltender in the league. Six of his 10 starts have gone to overtime or shootout including the last three straight. The 6’4″ netminder out of the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL was a Round 2 (#51 overall) selection of the Flyers in the 2023 NHL Draft.
GAUCH GETS IT GOING – Jacob Gaucher has a three-game goal streak which includes both games last weekend on the road when he scored Lehigh Valley’s lone goal of the game. The 24-year-old right-shooting center from Longueuil, Quebec tied for the team lead (with Alexis Gendron) with 20 goals last season and also earned an NHL contract midseason leading to his NHL debut on February 2, 2025 with the Philadelphia Flyers. He played four games with the Flyers last year and then received an early recall this season as well when he played three more games with the big club. Gaucher has now played 151 career games with the Phantoms as well as seven games with the Flyers and 74 games with the Reading Royals for a combined 233 professional games in the Flyers’ organization over four seasons.
HOME SWEET HOME – The Phantoms have played nine home games and 16 away games. That’s the fewest home games in the AHL and also the most away games. At last, that changes this week with a 6-game homestand beginning Wednesday and also including a Holiday Break in between. It is tied for the longest homestand in Lehigh Valley history. Lehigh Valley has no more away games in 2025 and will play its next away game on January 3, 2016 at Belleville. The Phantoms are 6-2-1 at home. Only the Grand Rapids Griffins (12-1-0) have fewer regulation losses on home ice).
SHOOTOUT FUN – Lehigh Valley’s eight-round marathon shootout win on Saturday at Rochester was one of the longest in team history. The Phantoms have not had a shootout go that long since November 1, 2016 when the Phantoms won in 10 rounds at the Hershey Bears on a goal by Kevin Sundher who had just been added and was making his Phantoms’ debut.
The longest shootout in franchise history was an incredible 15-round shootout on April 13, 2013 when the Adirondack Phantoms outlasted the Binghamton Senators. Mark Alt scored the winner in the 15th round which was also the second-longest in AHL history. The only longer shootout was Cleveland vs. Utah who played 16 rounds in 2002. The Phantoms outscored Binghamton 7-6 in the crazy 15-round affair that was made possible when Garrett Roe tied the game with just 0.3 seconds left in regulation. Brian Boucher was the winning goalie.
TEDDY BEAR MANIA – Last year, Jacob Gaucher’s goal brought on an avalanche of crazed Teddy Bear chaos inside PPL Center with a new record of 11,853 stuffed animal donations! Who will score the Teddy Bear Toss goal this year? Some Phantoms Teddy Bear Toss history below.
Phantoms Teddy Bear Goal Scorer:
2014: Brett Hextall
2015: Andrew MacDonald
2016: Nic Aube-Kubel (:59 into the game)
2017: Matt Read
2018: Connor Bunnaman
2019: Chris Bigras
2021: Gerry Mayhew
2022: Cooper Marody
2023: Zayde Wisdom
2024: Jacob Gaucher
Teddy Bear Count:
2014: 1,728
2015: 2,773
2016: 4,125
2017: 4,970
2018: 7,148
2019: 10,091
2021: 6,593
2022: 8,480
2023: 10,869
2024: 11,853
Total: 68,630
UPCOMING –
Wednesday, December 17, 2025 (7:05 p.m.)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Phantoms vs. Springfield Thunderbirds
Springfield (7-11-5) is showing rapid signs of improvement since the last time the Phantoms saw the T-Birds when they had the worst record in the league. Lehigh Valley clobbered Milan Lucic and Company 7-3 at PPL Center on November 14 and made it look easy on two goals by Denver Barkey and three-point performances by Alex Bump and Lane Pederson. But the T-Birds have gotten it going with points in eight of their last nine (5-1-3) including a current three-game point streak. The NHL veteran Lucic has since been released from his tryout contract. Goaltender Vadim Zherenko (4-5-3, 3.10, .905) has found his game and most recently had a 45-save masterpiece in a 3-1 win against Utica last weekend. Veteran captain Matthew Peca (3-12-15) is in his fifth season with the team and leads in scoring. Rookie Juraj Pekarcik (5-8-13) is a third-round selection from Slovakia. But Matt Luff and Nikita Alexandrov are up with St. Louis. Hugh McGing and Aleksantari Kaskiamki have been returned from St. Louis. McGing’s 275 career games are the most in T-Birds history. Reknowned and notorious enforcer Kale Kessy now has over 1,000 career penalty minutes. He was dropping the gloves with many a Phantoms player when he patrolled the ice for Hershey for four seasons from 2019-23.
Friday, December 19, 2025 (7:05 p.m.)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Phantoms vs. Bridgeport Islanders
It[‘s the second of eight games between the Phantoms and Islanders and also the first PPL Center appearance for Bridgeport (10-11-2) who arrives with an impressive three-game win streak including a 2-1 win at North Division-leading Laval last weekend. Former Flyers’ assistant coach Rocky Thompson has taken the reins in Bridgeport where the Phantoms prevailed 6-2 in the only other meeting on the strength of a big four-point night for Denver Barkey (1g, 3a) and two goals for Lane Pederson. This is not the doormat of the league any longer. Alex Jeffries (5-12-17) is a third-year pro who leads the team in scoring. Matthew Maggio (4-13-17) is having a strong season and had a nice shootout winner against Springfield a couple weeks ago. Defenseman Cole McWard (5-10-15) came over from Abbotsford and blasted home an overtime at Belleville their last time out. 36-year-old Chris Terry (3-7-10) is always dangerous and his 333 career goals rates 12th in league history and first among active players. Former Phantom Parker Gahagen has been sent to ECHL Worcester and the Islanders reassigned big Henrik Tikkanen to Bridgeport.
Saturday, December 20, 2025 (7:05 p.m.)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Phantoms vs. Hartford Wolf Pack
Around the impending Teddy Bear chaos on Saturday night at PPL Center, there is also an important divisional matchup to be played as the Phantoms look to stay undefeated against the Wolf Pack.
Hartford (9-12-4) has certainly had its ups and downs this year as Grant Potulny’s crew has also dealt with some frequent roster moves. They have also had a tough time holding leads against the Phantoms who have already gone 3-0-0 in some tight squeakers all in the Insurance City. Lehigh Valley rallied from behind to post back-to-back overtime wins on October 31 and November 1 with Lane Pederson and Cooper Marody capping each night. The most recent meeting on November 22 saw the Phantoms trailing 2-0 after 40 minutes but Christian Kyrou, Carl Grundstrom and Denver Barkey all scored back-to-back-to-back for the 3-2 win. Rookie first-rounder Gabe Perreault (10-7-17) already has received an NHL taste and is sure to get some more action with the big club. Fellow first-rounder Brennan Othmann (4-6-10) is in his third season with the Pack. Veteran arrival Trey Fix-Wolansky (6-10-16) lit it up for the Cleveland Monsters for six seasons where his 110 career goals is the all-time franchise record. Big Dylan Roobroeck (6-5-11) mixed it up with Garrett Wilson INSIDE the Hartford bench on November 1 and is a player the Phantoms will need to be aware of at all times. Veteran defenseman Derrick Pouliot (1-10-11) had 46 assists last year with Syracuse to lead all AHL defensemen.
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Alex Bump 6-13-19
Anthony Richard 8-10-18
Lane Pederson 7-10-17
x – Carl Grundstrom 6-9-15
Denver Barkey 7-8-15
Christian Kyrou 4-10-14
Atlantic Division Standings:
1. W-B/Scranton 19-6-1 = 39
1. Providence 19-5-9 = 39
3. Lehigh Valley 13-9-3 = 29
4. Charlotte 13-8-2 = 28
5. Hershey 13-10-1 = 27
6. Hartford 9-12-4 = 22
7. Bridgeport 10-11-2 = 22
8. Springfield 7-11-5 = 19
LOOKING AHEAD – The Phantoms have a big six-game homestand coming up from December 17 through December 31 including the annual Teddy Bear Toss presented by Big Woody’s on Saturday, December 20 against the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Other exciting promos in the upcoming homestand include the Service Electric Warm-Up Drive on December 19 and Postgame Autographs from NJM Insurance on December 28.
The New Year’s Eve Game at 3:05 p.m. gets you ready for the World’s Largest Puck Drop outside to ring in 2026!
