Phantoms Weekly

Phantoms Have Won 4 of 5

October 27, 2026

Allentown, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (4-3-1) have a pair of games this weekend as they wrap up October on the road at the Rochester Americans and then open November at home against the Providence Bruins

Lehigh Valley is coming off a split in its recent weekend homestand including a scrap-filled contest on Saturday in a loss to Syracuse followed by a big bounce-back in a 2-0 shutout against the Belleville Senators for Aleksei Kolosov on Sunday.

This Sunday’s home game against the Providence Bruins includes lots of Spooky Fun on our annual Haunted on Hamilton. A costume parade and trick-or-treating as well as pumpkin painting are all part of the run as well as a popcorn bucket giveaway presented by Gruber.

Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for upcoming games here: https://www.phantomshockey.com/media/media-materials/

LAST WEEK
Saturday, October 24 – Syracuse Crunch 7 at Phantoms 2
Sunday, October 25 – Belleville Senators 0 at Phantoms 2

THE WEEK AHEAD
Friday, October 30 (7:05) – Phantoms at Rochester Americans (BUF)
Sunday, November 1 (3:05) – Phantoms vs. Providence Bruins (BOS)

WEEKLY RECAP
Friday, October 24, 2026
Syracuse Crunch 7 at Lehigh Valley Phantoms 2
When you go down, go down fighting. A team-record 98 penalty minutes, including several 10-minute misconducts, was the response to a frustrating night of hockey in which the Syracuse Crunch prevailed in a 7-2 final. Former Philadelphia Flyer Jakob Pelletier recorded a hat trick entirely in the second period and Gabriel Sturzc had a pair of goals while Elliot Desnoyers celebrated his first trip back to PPL Center with a goal and an assist against his former team. Zayde Wisdom scored in the opening 30 seconds for an initial 1-0 lead but things went sideways after that as Syracuse took a 4-1 lead in the opening minutes of the second period and made it 6-1 by the time the horn sounded for the intermission. But it was the third period that everyone talking with one scrap and blow up after another. When the dust had settled, six Phantoms players had received misconducts as well as head coach John Snowden. And the team set a new record for PIM eclipsing the 72 penalty minutes Lehigh Valley had in a game on December 21, 2024 at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Indeed, the situation harkened back to the early days of the Philadelphia Phantoms and some of their wild, fight-filled contests at the old Spectrum. Certainly an appropriate way to be tribute to the beginning of the franchise on Throwback Jersey night.

Sunday, October 15, 2026
Belleville Senators 0 at Lehigh Valley Phantoms 2
Aleksei Kolosov stopped all 16 shots he faced and Jack Studnicka celebrated his 400th professional game with a goal as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (4-3-1) blanked the Belleville Senators 2-0 on Sunday afternoon at PPL Center to earn their first home victory of the season. Zach Aston-Reese (1st) opened the scoring with his first goal as a Phantom, while Studnicka (2nd) provided third-period insurance. Rookie Ilya Pautov assisted on both tallies as Kolosov recorded his third career North American professional shutout. On an afternoon filled with comics, costumes, and pop culture fun for the third annual award-winning Phan Con celebration, the Phantoms put together a defensive performance comparable to a superhero’s force field.Lehigh Valley limited Belleville to just five shots through two periods and neutralized all four Senators power plays, bouncing back from Saturday’s loss to Syracuse with a disciplined effort from start to finish.

THE CAPTAIN IS BACK! – Welcome back, Captain! Veteran forward and team leader Garrett Wilson has been assigned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms by the Philadelphia Flyers.Wilson, 35, has played two games with the Flyers this season. He completed his 15th season of professional hockey in 2025-26, spending time with the Flyers and the Phantoms. The forward played 54 games with Lehigh Valley before spending the rest of the season with the Flyers. The rugged winger has served as captain or alternate captain for the Phantoms for six seasons and is entering his seventh season with the team as well as his fourth as captain. He holds the Lehigh Valley records for most games (343) and penalty minutes (791).

His unlikely, fairy-tale return to the NHL last season after a nearly seven-year absence garnered national attention. On March 19, 2026, in Los Angeles, Wilson suited up for the Flyers in what was his first NHL action since the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The forward played three total games for Philadelphia. Wilson was nominated by the Philadelphia chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) for the 2025-26 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which recognizes a player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

GAUCHER RECALLED AGAIN – The Philadelphia Flyers have again recalled Jacob Gaucher from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms following his three-game stretch with the big club last week. Gaucher had just returned to the Phantoms for Sunday’s win against Belleville prior to his recall. This is the third consecutive season in which Gaucher has seen NHL action who has played 11 career games with the Flyers. Gaucher, 25, has played in seven games with the Phantoms this season scoring 4-4-8. He has played in 205 career games with the Phantoms over the past four seasons scoring 52-46-98.

Gaucher is tied with Olle Lycksell for seventh all-time in goals by a Lehigh Valley player and also recently became the 15th ever to appear in 200 games with Lehigh Valley. In the 2025-26 season, he also became only the third Lehigh Valley player to record 20 or more goals in a season joining Danick Martel and Greg Carey. This year, he became the first player in Lehigh Valley history to score the first goal of the season two different times. He has recorded two hat tricks in his career.

TRANSACTIONS –
Oct 24, 2026 – Add Garrett Wilson (F) – Loaned to Phantoms by PHI
Oct 25, 2026 – Add Jacob Gaucher (F) – Loaned to Phantoms by PHI
Oct 27, 2026 – Del Jacob Gaucher (F) – Recalled by Flyers

MILESTONES – Jack Studnicka celebrated his 400th career pro game with an important goal in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Belleville. And Helge Grans returned to the Phantoms this weekend to play in his 300th career AHL game.

Grans, 24, has played in one game with the Flyers this season and played in 61 games with the Phantoms last year scoring 3-11-14 In 300 career AHL games with Ontario and Lehigh Valley he has scored 21-57-78, including 185 games with Lehigh Valley producing 12-33-45 across three seasons with the team.

Studnicka, 27, played in three games with the Flyers and has played in five games with the Phantoms this season scoring two goals with one assist. He has played in 129 career NHL games with Boston, Vancouver, San Jose, Florida, and Philadelphia recording 6-10-16 as well as 271 AHL games with Providence, Abbotsford, San Jose, Ontario, Charlotte and Lehigh Valley, producing 71-124-195. The righty-shooting center from Windsor, ON was a Round 2 selection of the Boston Bruins in 2017.

UPCOMING MILESTONES
Zack Aston-Reese – 196 Pro Points
Zayde Wisdom – 96 Pro Points
Cam Dineen – 391 AHL Games
John Snowden – 97 Pro Coaching Wins

UPCOMING –
Friday, October 30 (7:05)
Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, NY
Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Rochester Americans
Rochester (4-3-1) picked up a 3-2 overtime win at Syracuse last weekend on a goal by leading scorer Trevor Kuntar (4-4-8) and hosts the Hershey Bears on Wednesday. 33-year-old veteran Matthew Peca (4-4-8) has played in 552 career AHL games scoring 132-280-412 and joins after lengthy stints as a leader with Syracuse and Springfield. 2021 Fourth-rounder Red Savage (1-1-2) is a second-year pro who is the son of former Flyer Brian Savage (66 and 9 goals games in 2005-06) who spent most of his 674-game career with Montreal. Rookie defenseman Gavin McCarthy (1-3-4) is a Buffalo third-round selection out of Boston University. 27-year-old goaltender Matthew Villalta(4-2-1, 1.86, .926) leads the league in games and minutes (419) after joining the Amerks from Tucson (3 seasons) and Ontario (4 seasons). Rochester is giving up a paltry 2.38 goals per game, tied for second-best in the conference with Charlotte and trailing only Laval. This is Lehigh Valley’s only trip to western New York this season. Rochester is in its 71st season in the AHL, having originally entered in 1956 and winning six Calder Cups along the way, most recently in 1996 under John Tortorella over the Portland Pirates.

Sunday, November 1 (3:05)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Lehigh Valley Phantoms vs. Providence Bruins
It is a very different vibe in Rhode Island where the Providence Bruins (3-6-0) went from Kilpatrick Trophy winners last year as the top team in the league to one of the worst out of the gates this season in something of a rebuilding year. Gone are goalie Michael DiPietro and captain Patrick Brown as well as Georgii Merkulov, Fabian Lysell, Riley Tufte and Michael Callahan among others. NHL veteran Mikey Eyssimont (9-1-10) has single-handedly provided the majority of the offense and already has a pair of hat tricks this season. Eyssimont has 269 career NHL games mostly with Boston, Tampa Bay and Winnipeg and had not been a regular in the AHL since 2021-22 with Manitoba. Fourth-rounder from Latvia Dana Locmelis (0-5-5) had 15 goals as a rookie last season. Max Guenette (0-2-2) played in 46 games with the Phantoms last season while scoring 2-22-24 and sometimes serving as an alternate captain. Simon Zajicek (1-3-0, 2.30, .907) very much impressed in his AHL rookie season at 24 years old going 14-6-1, 2.44, .915. Former Penguins and Monsters blueliner Billy Sweezey (1-1-2) has been named the new captain of the P-Bruins. Trent Whitfield has taken over as head coach after spending the previous 10 seasons as an assistant coach. Before that, he played for the Providence Bruins (2009-13) and served as team captain. Providence has been shutout three times already but bounced back for a 5-2 win against Utica last Saturday. The Bruins will return for two more games at PPL Center on November 25 and November 28.

Phantoms Scoring Leaders
x – Alex Bump 7-1-8
x – Jacob Gaucher 4-4-8
Jett Luchanko 1-5-6
Cam Dineen 2-3-5
x – Cole Knuble 1-3-4
Jack Studnicka 2-2-4
Ty Murchison 0-4-4

Atlantic Division Standings:
1. Hershey 5-2-0 = 10
1. Charlotte 5-3-0 = 10
3. W-B/Scranton 4-3-1 = 9
3. Lehigh Valley 4-3-1 = 9
5. Hartford 4-6-0 = 8
6. Springfield 3-3-2 = 8
7. Providence 3-6-0 = 6

NEXT UP –
The Phantoms travel to western New York for an away game with the Rochester Americans on Friday, October 30. Lehigh Valley is back at PPL Center on Sunday, November 1 against the Providence Bruins including a popcorn bucket giveaway from Gruber.

The Phantoms then embark on a three-game Canadian road-swing beginning Wednesday, November 4 at the first-place Laval Rocket and continuing Friday, November 6 at the Belleville Senators and Saturday, November 7 at the Hamilton Hammers.

Oct

Sun 3:05 PM