PREVIEW: Phantoms vs. Providence, Game 60
Midweek Showdown with First-Place P-Bruins
TONIGHT – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (26-27-6) continue their Push for the Playoffs taking on the first-place Providence Bruins (45-12-1) at PPL Center. This is the fourth, and final meeting of the season between the two teams.
The Phantoms are now all alone in fifth place in the Atlantic Division having pushed ahead of the Bridgeport Islanders via back-to-back road wins last weekend at Syracuse and Wilkes-Barre. With 13 games remaining in the regular season, Lehigh Valley’s Magic Number is 25 points to punch its ticket for the postseason. The Phantoms are only four points behind Hershey for a 4-seed and home-ice advantage in the first-round of the Playoffs. As the standings shake out currently, Lehigh Valley would matchup with rival Hershey in the first round. But Lehigh Valley is also barely ahread of sixth and seventh place Springfield and Bridgeport who are pushing for a postseason spot as well.
Providence is now tops in the entire league having rushed past Grand Rapids via a 20-4-0 hot stretch since mid-January that included a franchise-record 13-game win streak. Today is Game 60 of the regular season. Providence leads the season series 3-0.
Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for tonight’s game at www.phantomshockey.com/media/media-materials/
LAST TIME – Phil Tomasino (10th) scored against his former team to give the Lehigh Valley Phantoms the initial lead, but the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins rallied from behind to post a 3-1 victory at PPL Center on Sunday evening, thus earning a split in the home-and-home series. The visiting team won in each half of the two-game set and Lehigh Valley fell just short of finishing a perfect 3-for-3 weekend when Owen Pickering clinched the final with a long empty-netter. Ultimately, penalty trouble proved costly to the Phantoms as Gabe Klassen (14th) scored a power-play goal early in the third period to break a 1-1 tie. The Penguins benefitted from six power play opportunities while the Phantoms had just one. 24 hours earlier, the Phantoms triumphed in northeast Pennsylvania with a bevy of man-advantage markers and seven total power plays.
KNUBLE KNOWLEDGE – The Philadelphia Flyers have signed forward Cole Knuble to a two-year entry-level contract beginning with the 2026-27 season. Knuble will join the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on a PTO (Professional Try Out) for the remainder of the 2025-26 season. Knuble, 21, was selected by Philadelphia in the fourth round of the 2023 NHL Draft and has participated in Flyers development camp in each of the last three years. He is the son of former Flyers forward Mike Knuble, who appeared in 338 regular-season games with the club from 2005–09 and 2013 among 1,068 career NHL games. The 5-foot-11, 190-pound forward finished his third collegiate season with the University of Notre Dame, where he scored nine goals with 22 assists for 31 points through 36 games.
GINNING’S RECORD – Adam Ginning is closing in on Reece Wilcox’s Lehigh Valley record of 232 games by a defenseman. Ginning has played in 230 games with the Phantoms and can potentially tie the record on Wednesday against Providence. Drafted by the Flyers in the second round in 2018, the 6’4″ lefty shot has been a blueline mainstay with Lehigh Valley for four seasons scoring nine goals with 48 assists for 57 points. Ginning has also played in 16 career NHL games with the Philadelphia Flyers including five games this year when he made the team’s Opening Night roster out of training camp.
RETOOLED ROSTER – An influx of exciting additions are quickly getting acclimated to their new team as Lehigh Valley’s revamped roster appears poised to make some noise down the stretch run.
David Jiricek was the #6 overall selection in the draft on 2022. The big defenseman with the massive, booming shot arrived at the trade deadline from the Iowa Wild and has played 84 NHL games with Columbus and Minnesota.
Boris Katchouk arrives with almost 200 career games of NHL experience with Ottawa, Chicago and Tampa Bay. Katchouk racked up 21 goals with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last year and is off to a strong start with Lehigh Valley in his first six games with his new team.
Brett Harrison made an impressive splash in his Lehigh Valley debut with a power-play goal on Friday at Syracuse in his very first game with this new team. Harrison is a third-year pro who came over from the Providence Bruins.
Noah Powell, 21, made his pro debut last weekend and the Arizona State product came extremely close to scoring his first goal on a breakaway and other strong chances. The Flyers’ fifth-round selection in 2022 out of the Dubuque Fighting Saints in the USHL led his league in juniors with 43 goals.
Phil Tomasino, Max Guenette and Christian Kyrou have all been big contributors since being added to the Phantoms in the first half of the season. Tomasino has played in 218 career NHL games. Guenette has over 200 career games on the blueline with Belleville. Kyrou came over from Texas and represented the Phantoms at the AHL All-Star Classic.
TRANSACTIONS –
3/7/26 Add Carson Golder (F) – Recalled by LV from Reading
3/7/26 Del Alex Bump (F) – Recalled to PHI
3/11/26 Add Noah Powell (F) – Signed ATO with Phantoms
3/12/26 Del Cooper Marody (F)– Traded to Coachella Valley for future considerations
3/13/26 Del Garrett Wilson (F) – Recalled to PHI
HEATING UP –
David Jiricek 1-3-4 in 4 games since joining Lehigh Valley
Boris Katchouk 2-3-5 in 6 games since joining Lehigh Valley
Oliver Bonk 3-7-10 last 12 games and 1-4-5 last 6 games
Anthony Richard 0-5-5 last 3 games and 3-11-14 in last 12 games since Feb 20
WHAT’S BRUIN IN RHODE ISLAND? – Providence (45-12-1) is tops in the AHL having pushed past the Grand Rapids Griffins for the best points percentage and most wins in the circuit. With an offense (3.36 goals per game) and defense (2.14 allowed per game) that both rate first in the conference, it is easy to see how they got there. Providence has won 20 of its last 24 games since mid-January including a franchise-record 13-game win streak.Former Flyer Patrick Brown (17-32-49) paces the balanced attack and has four goals against the Phantoms this season while goaltender Michael DiPietro (28-6-0, 1.80, .936) leads the league in goals-against and save percentage and is in the running to win his second straight Baz Bastien Award as AHL Goaltender of the Year. Riley Tufte (25-20-45) has equaled his career-high for points and Matej Blumel (17-26-43) led the AHL last year with 39 goals with Texas while Georgii Merkulov (18-30-48) is on his way to his fourth straight 50-point season. Alexis Gendron hasn’t scored yet in five games with his new team since he was traded with Massimo Rizzo in exchange for new Phantoms Brett Harrison and Jackson Edward. Lehigh Valley is 0-3 against the P-Bruins this season and lost a wild 6-4 decision at PPL Cetner on February 25 in the last encounter.
SCORING LEADERS
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Lane Pederson 21-21-42
Anthony Richard 16-25-41
Christian Kyrou 8-24-32
Jacob Gaucher 16-14-30
x – Alex Bump 11-15-26
Tucker Robertson 12-13-25
Providence Scoring Leaders
Patrick Brown 17-32-49
Georgii Merkulov 18-30-48
Riley Tufte 25-20-45
Matěj Blümel 17-26-43
Fabian Lysell 15-25-40
Special Teams PP / PK
LV 19.9%, 12th / 76.6%, 30th / PP vs. PRO, 2-15, 15.4%
PRO 21.0%, 7th / 884.1%, 5th / PP vs. LV 2-8, 25.0%
Season Series vs. Providence Bruins: (0-3-0)
11/21/25 Away L 2-3
1/11/26 Away L 2-4
2/25/26 Home L 4-6
3/18/26 Home
LOOKING AHEAD – The Phantoms travel to Charlotte, NC next week for a two-game series against the Checkers on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. and Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
The Phantoms return home next weekend on Friday, March 27 against the Springfield Thunderbirds on Hockey is for Everyone Night, and Saturday, March 28 in a rivalry showdown against the Hershey Bears.
Charlotte Checkers
Charlotte Checkers
