PREVIEW: Phantoms vs. Bridgeport, Game 42
Back at Home in January Finale
TONIGHT – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (20-17-4) are back at PPL Center as they host the Bridgeport Islanders (18-18-4) on a Saturday Night Hockey Live in Center City Allentown.
Tonight is Game 42 of the regular season and is Game 5 out of 8 between the Phantoms and the B-Isles with Bridgeport holding a 3-1 advantage in the season series. The Phantoms are looking to bounce back following a 2-1 loss at Springfield last night. The Islanders are aiming to keep the momentum going following a 6-3 trouncing of Hartford.
Tonight is also the first of three straight home games for the Phantoms. The homestand continues Sunday afternoon at 3:05 against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on meLVin Youth Jersey Day.
Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for tonight’s game at www.phantomshockey.com/media/media-materials/
LAST TIME – Phil Tomasino (6th) broke through on the power play for his first with the Orange and Black but Vadim Zherenko held off Lehigh Valley’s hard push the rest of the way as the Springfield Thunderbirds held on for a 2-1 nailbiter on Friday night. Aleksei Kolosov (22/24) was strong in his return to the Phantoms and only allowed a pair of power-play goals in the first period. He made several strong saves including a pair of sparkling denials on Kale Kessy on a 2-on-1 in the first period and a glorious chance out in front in the second period and then robbed Otto Stenberg point-blank in the third. Rookie Juraj Pekarcik (6th) and veteran Chris Wagner (12th) found the back of the net with man-advantage markers in the opening frame for Springfield.
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-3 to 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.
PEDERSON RETURNS, KOLOSOV HEADS BACK UP – The Philadelphia Flyers have loaned forward Lane Pederson to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and have also recalled goaltender Aleksei Kolosov from the Additionally, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms have recalled goaltender Yaniv Perets from the Reading Royals of the ECHL.
Pederson, 28, is the leading scorer on the Phantoms this season with 13 goals and 15 assists for 28 points in 37 games played. The 6’0″ right-handed shooting center from Saskatoon, SK played in five games with the Philadelphia Flyers making his debut on January 19 at Vegas. It was his first NHL game in almost three years since March 30, 2023 with Columbus. Pederson scored the team’s Teddy Bear Toss goal on December 20 and has a pair of two-goal games, most recently on December 31.
Kolosov, 24, has gone 9-10-1 with the Phantoms this season with a 2.52 GAA, and .908 SV%. He has also appeared in four games with the Flyers going 0-2-0, 4.00, .830. Last year, Kolosov split his season between the Phantoms and Flyers going 5-6-1, 3.11, .884 in 12 games with Lehigh Valley while going 5-9-1, 3.59, .867 in 17 NHL games with Philadelphia.
Perets, 25, has played in three games with Lehigh Valley this season going 1-2-0, 3.21, .873. In 15 games with Reading, Perets is 8-6-1, 3.48, .896. 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 while also playing in four games with the AHL Chicago Wolves and one NHL game with the Carolina Hurricanes. A native of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec, Perets starred at Quinnipiac University, where he was two-time ECAC Goaltender of the Year and won an NCAA National Championship in 2023.
WELCOME BACK – The Philadelphia Flyers have returned defenseman Hunter McDonald to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and have also recalled forward Carson Golder from the Reading Royals of the ECHL.
McDonald, 23, is in his second full season of professional hockey. He received his first career NHL recall on January 17 but did not appear in any games with the Flyers. McDonald has played in 34 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 out of Northeastern University.
Golder, 23, has played in four games with the Phantoms beginning with 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 29 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 trailing only Tucson who have nine.
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.
BRIDGEPORT BREAKDOWN – Bridgeport (18-18-4) used a recent five-game winning streak to zip past Springfield and Hartford into the sixth-place position in the division above the playoff cutline and then strengthened its hold via a 6-3 trouncing of the Wolf Pack last night powered by a Hunter Drew (10-7-17) hat trick. 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 (16-10-26) 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 Hamel 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.
SCORING LEADERS
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
x – Lane Pederson 13-15-28
Anthony Richard 11-11-22
Alex Bump 7-13-20
Christian Kyrou 6-13-19
Alexis Gendron 8-10-18
Bridgeport Scoring Leaders
Adam Beckman 16-10-26
Joey Larson 13-11-24
Alex Jeffries 7-17-24
Matt Maggio 5-18-23
Liam Foudy 14-8-22
Special Teams PP / PK
LV 18.6%, 17th / 75.3%, 31st (PP vs. BRI, 2/13, 15.4%
BRI 16.8%, 23rd / 81.1%, 17th (PP vs. LV 9/26, 34.6%
Season Series vs. Bridgeport Islanders: (1-3-0)
11/5/25 Away W 6-2
12/19/25 Home L 1-5
1/16/26 Home L 1-3
1/19/26 Away L 2-6
1/31/26 Home
2/7/26 Away
3/8/26 Away
4/11/26 Home
LOOKING AHEAD – The Phantoms return to PPL Center 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. And the Phantoms are also back next weekend on Friday, February 6 in a rematch with the Penguins.
Bridgeport Islanders
