PREVIEW: Phantoms vs. Bridgeport, Game 36
First Home Game of 2026
TONIGHT – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (19-12-4) return to PPL Center for their first home games of 2026 as they take on the Bridgeport Islanders (14-17-3) while also reaching the official midway point of the 2025-26 season. The Phantoms are in fourth place in the Atlantic Division and recently had a four-game win streak and seven-game point streak (6-0-1) before both streaks were snapped on Sunday at first-place Providence. After tonight’s contest, the Phantoms will have played 36 games and will have 36 remaining.
Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for tonight’s game at www.phantomshockey.com/media/media-materials/
LAST TIME – Providence Bruins goaltender Michael DiPietro showed why he was the top goaltender in the league last year and will be a contender for the honor again this season. Lehigh Valley poured on chance after chance, including 15 shots in the third period, but the Bruins hung on for a 4-2 win on Sunday afternoon to end the Phantoms’ four-game win streak and seven-game point streak. Trailing 2-0 in the second period, Alexis Gendron (7th) and Devin Kaplan (4th) scored back-to-back as the Phantoms rallied back from a two-goal deficit to even the count for a second consecutive game. But this time the Phantoms didn’t have enough comeback magic available. Lehigh Valley also had five power plays in the contest but had difficulty solving the stingy Providence penalty kill. The bulk of the team’s chances came at 5-on-5. Frederic Brunet’s wraparound goal against Aleksei Kolosov late in the second period was the winner and then former Philadelphia Flyer Patrick Brown tacked on an empty-netter at the end as the Bruins improved to 2-0-0 against the Phantoms.
ALL-STAR BARKEY – Denver Barkey has been selected for the AHL All-Star Classic to take place February 10-11 in Rockford, Ill. With the Phantoms this season, Barkey has scored nine goals with seven assists for 16 points in 26 games played. He has also played in 12 games with the Philadelphia Flyers scoring one goal with four assists since making his NHL debut on December 20. Barkey captained the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League to a Memorial Cup title. and was a round 3 selection of the Flyers in 2023. He becomes the 17th Lehigh Valley player to be named for the AHL All-Star Classic and is only the fourth rookie joining Morgan Frost, Ronnie Attard and Samu Tuomaala. Barkey becomes the second player to receive the honor at only 20 years old joining Morgan Frost.
KOLOSOV RECALLED – The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled goaltender Aleksei Kolosov from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms have recalled goaltender Yaniv Perets 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 three games with the Flyers this season. He 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. He also became the first-ever Lehigh Valley goaltender to receive the honor. He had his second career shutout on December 31 against Hershey and then followed that up with a 30-save performance at Toronto on January 4 in a 6-1 win.
Perets, 25, has started one game for Lehigh Valley this season, stopping 26 shots in the Phantoms’ 4-3 win at Hartford on November 1, 2025. In 15 games with Reading this season, Perets has gone 7-6-1, 3.59, .892. Prior to signing with the Phantoms in July 2025, Perets spent the majority of last season with the Bloomington (IL) Bison of the ECHL going 12-12-1, 2.59, .921 in 27 games. He also appeared in four AHL games with the Chicago Wolves going 1-2-1, 3.93, .846 and made one relief appearance in the NHL with the Carolina Hurricanes on November 30, 2024. Perets previously starred at Quinnipiac University, where he was two-time ECAC Goaltender of the Year and won an NCAA National Championship in 2023.
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 9-3-3, 2.47, .910 this season. Since December 1, Bjanrason is 5-1-1, 2.09, .922. 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.
PEDERSON PRODUCTION – Veteran center Lane Pederson took charge through the course of the team’s recent seven-game point streak scoring 6-4-10 over the stretch including four multi-point performances. Pederson won the puck in the corner on the forecheck to set up Anthony Richard’s game-winning goal with just 11.9 seconds left on Saturday at Springfield and had earlier sparked the comeback with his dangleriffic rush through the defense and top-shelf strike to commence play in the third period and get the Phantoms on the board. The 28-year-old product Saskatoon, Sask. has been centering the team’s top line for the entire season and has played in 322 career AHL games scoring 124 goals and he also has played in 71 career NHL games including stints with Arizona, San Jose, Columbus and Vancouver.
PHANTASTIC –
– The Phantoms are playing their 36th game to mark the official midway point of the 2025-26 season.
Phantoms record when…
Score First: 12-0-2
Lead After 1: 9-0-0
Score 3+ Goals: 16-1-2
Allow 2 goals or fewer: 14-0-1
On Saturdays: 10-1-2
TRANSACTIONS –
1/13/26 – Add Adam Ginning (D) – Loaned to Phantoms by PHI
1/15/26 – Add Yaniv Perets (G) – Recalled by Phantoms from Reading (ECHL)
1/15/26 – Del Aleksei Kolosov (G) – Recalled by PHI from Phantoms
ISLANDS IN THE STREAM – Bridgeport (14-17-3) is staying in the playoff race with a much better team than last year. The Islanders are still tied for last place with Hartford but have won two straight to close to within one point of sixth-place Springfield for the last postseason position after picking up 4-2 and 5-1 wins against Utica and Hartford last week. Merrimack College product Alex Jeffries (7-17-24) is a fourth-rounder in his second year with Bridgeport and leads the team in scoring. Undrafted rookie Joey Larson (10-12-22) was teammates with Lehigh Valley’s Karsen Dorwart at Michigan State. Matthew Highmore (5-15-20) has 187 career NHL games under his belt. Liam Foudy (8-6-14) is a former Columbus first-rounder who cranked out 20 goals for Bridgeport last season. Chris Terry (7-8-15) is still getting it done at 36 years old with 337 career goals which is most among active AHL players and just one shy of Hall of Famer Denis Hamel for 12th all-time. Entering the weekend, the season series is even at 1-1 with the two teams trading road victories entering Game 3 out of 8. The Phantoms and Islanders will rematch on Monday afternoon at Bridgeport. Denver Barkey’s four-point game and Lane Pederson’s two goals led the way at Bridgeport on November 5 in a 6-2 thumping of the B-Isles. But the Islanders answered on December 19 at PPL Center with a humbling 5-1 result led by Chris Terry’s pair of lamplighters.
SCORING LEADERS
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Lane Pederson 13-14-27
Alex Bump 7-13-20
Anthony Richard 9-10-19
Alexis Gendron 7-10-17
x – Denver Barkey 7-9-16
Christian Kyrou 5-10-15
Bridgeport Scoring Leaders
Alex Jefferies 7-17-24
Joey Larson 12-10-22
Matthew Highmore 5-15-20
Matt Maggio 5-15-20
Adam Beckman 10-8-18
Special Teams PP / PK
LV 18.2%, 18th / 77.8%, 27th
PRO 13.4%, 31st / 79.6%, 21st
Season Series vs. Bridgeport Islanders: (1-1-0)
11/5/25 Away W 6-2
12/19/25 Home L 1-5
1/16/26 Home
1/19/26 Away
1/31/26 Home
2/7/26 Away
3/8/26 Away
4/11/26 Home
LOOKING AHEAD – The Phantoms are back at PPL Center on Saturday, January 17 against the Syracuse Crunch on Air Products Night. The Phantoms travel to Connecticut on Monday afternoon to rematch with the Brdigeport Islanders.
Bridgeport Islanders
