PREVIEW: Phantoms vs. Monsters, Game 2
Cleveland Arrives for Two-Game Weekend Series
TONIGHT – After a week between games, the Phantoms return to action tonight at PPL Center hosting the Cleveland Monsters, AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets. This is the first of a two-game weekend series between the two teams and also is the only Allentown visit of the season for the Monsters.
Lehigh Valley (0-1-0) has been itching to play again since its Opening Night clash with the Hartford Wolf Pack last Saturday. But instead the team got in a productive week of practice to work on systems and special teams while developing chemistry.
After the pause between games, the Phantoms now enter a busy stretch of five games in the next eight days.
Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for tonight’s game at www.phantomshockey.com/media/media-materials/
LAST TIME – Jacob Gaucher became the sixth player in Lehigh Valley history to score multiple goals in the first game of the season and also became the first-ever player to score Lehigh Valley’s first goal of the season twice. But the visiting Hartford Wolf Pack rallied from behind to post a 5-2 victory on Opening Night at PPL Center last Saturday. Rookie Cole Beaudoin paced the pack racking up three points in his pro debut including a goal and two assists. Lehigh Valley’s lineup featured seven rookies including two players making their pro debuts. Spencer Gill and Ilya Pautov both registered assists in their first-ever pro game in North America.
BUMP IS BACK – The Philadelphia Flyers have assigned forward Alex Bump to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Bump, 22, has played in three games with the Flyers this season and also played in 17 games with Philadelphia last year scoring 5-4-9 while also registering two goals in six postseason games. He made his NHL debut on March 7, 2026 and scored his first goal in that same game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Bump thrived in his rookie season with Lehigh Valley scoring 11-15-26 in 36 games. He had joined the Phantoms at the end of the 2024-25 season immediately after winning the National Championship at the Frozen Four with Western Michigan. The Prior Lake, Minnesota native was a fifth-round selection of the Flyers in 2022.
TRANSACTIONS –
Oct 7 – Add Alex Bump (F) – Assigned to Lehigh Valley by Philadelphia
Oct 7 – Del Brett Berard (F) – Loaned to Reading (ECHL) by Lehigh Valley
Oct 7 – Del Yaniv Perets (G) – Loaned to Reading (ECHL) by Lehigh Valley
MILESTONE – Jacob Gaucher has played in 199 games with the Phantoms. Now in his fourth season with the team, Gaucher can become the 14th player in Lehigh Valley history to reach the 200-game milestone. Gaucher is one of just three players to post consecutive 20-goal campaigns for Lehigh Valley joining Danick Martel and Greg Carey. His 50 career goals ranks 8th in Lehigh Valley history.
Lehigh Valley Most Goals:
1. Greg Carey – 103
2. Chris Conner – 71
3. Danick Martel – 68
4. Garrett Wilson – 62
5. Colin McDonald – 60
6. Taylor Leier – 56
7. Olle Lycksell – 52
8. JACOB GAUCHER – 50
8. Nic Aube-Kubel – 50
Lehigh Valley Phantoms with multiple goals in first game of season:
Chris VandeVelde – Oct 11, 2014 – 5-2 at WBS
Danick Martel – Oct 15, 2016 – 4-2 vs. Springfield
Danick Martel (3 Goals) – Oct 7, 2017 – 7-2 vs. Hershey
Nicolas Aube-Kubel – Oct 6, 2018 – 6-3 vs. Bridgeport
Greg Carey – Oct 6, 2018 – 6-3 vs. Bridgeport
Devin Kaplan – Oct 11, 2025 – 5-2 vs. Belleville
Jacob Gaucher – Oct 3, 20126 – 2-5 vs. Hartford
THE MONSTER MASH –
It’s a back-to-back weekend set against the Cleveland Monsters, AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Cleveland (1-1-0) split a season-opening series with the Grand Rapids Griffins including a 5-4 ovetime win on Sunday courtesy of Tate Singleton. The Blue Jackets named former Hershey assistant Nick Bootland as new head coach upon Trent Vogelhuber’s departure to Columbus as assistant coach. 34-year-old goaltender Pheonix Copley adds 312 games of AHL experience. Copley played for the Hershey Bears and Washington Capitals for six seasons but spent the last four year with the Ontario Reign and Los Angeles Kings.
21-year-old Luca Pinelli is the top returning scorer from last year’s team with 14-32-46 as a rookie. Additional top prospects include defenseman Corson Ceulemans (Rd. 1 2021) and forward Jordan Dumais (Rd. 3 2022). Veterans Adam Clendening and Colton White shore up the blueline. Clendening has 512 career AHL games and played for the Phantoms in the 2021-22 season while White has played in 107 career NHL games spending most of his career with New Jersey and affiliates in Binghamton and Utica. 30-year-old center Stephen Lorentz is an NHL veteran of 381 games with Carolina, San Jose, Florida and Toronto who is back in the AHL for the first time since 2019-20. Lorentz won the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers in 2024.
COACHING STAFF – John Snowden enters his second season as head coach of the Phantoms and his fourth season on the team’s coaching staff. NHL veteran defenseman Nick Schultz is back for his second season as an assistant coach as is Yardley, PA native Terrence Wallin. Brady Robinson enters his 11th season as goaltending development coach for the Phantoms.
SCORING LEADERS
Lehigh Valley
56 Jacob Gaucher 2-0-2
42 Spencer Gill 0-1-1
77 Jett Luchanko 0-1-1
90 Ilya Pautov 0-1-1
23 Jack Studnicka 0-1-1
17 Luke Tuch 2-1-3
14 Josh Eernisse 1-1-2
20 Oiva Keskinen 0-2-2
8 Boston Buckberger 1-0-1
48 Tate Singleton 1-0-1
SPECIAL TEAMS
LV PP 1-3, 33.3% (3rd) / PK 1-2, 50.0% (31st)
CLE PP 1-10, 10.0% (26th) / PK 10-14, 71.4% (26th)
SEASON SERIES
Oct 10 – at Lehigh Valley
Oct 11 – at Lehigh Valley
Mar 26 – at Cleveland
Mar 27 – at Cleveland
ON THE AIR – Catch the Phantoms, home and away, on the Phantoms 365 app and on Real Oldies 1470-AM, WSAN and also on FloHockey.TV.
Also available via the Listen Live link at the Phantoms website and on your Smart Speaker system at “Play Phantoms Radio 24-7.”
Bob Rotruck has the play-by-play action all season long.
Service Electric Network is the exclusive home of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, providing extensive coverage of all home games. Steve Degler and Steven Swavely call the action from the booth, while Kristi Fulkerson and Dan Fremuth host pregame, intermissions, and postgame coverage, beginning with “Front and Center” live from Chickie’s and Pete’s at PPL Center.
NEXT UP –
After this weekend’s series against Cleveland, the Phantoms are on the road for the first time this year with a three-game swing to Hartford and Springfield from Wednesday, October 14 through Saturday, October 17.
The Phantoms will be back at PPL Center on Saturday, October 24 against the Syracuse Crunch and Sunday, October 25 against the Belleville Senators on PhanCon also featuring a Postgame Skate with the players presented by NJM Insurance.
Hartford Wolf Pack
Springfield Thunderbirds
Springfield Thunderbirds
