First Road Setback

Rochester Takes Down Phantoms, 6-3

October 30, 2026

Rochester, NY – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms were not able to overcome an early deficit as they closed out the month of October and sustained their first away loss of the season, 6-3, at Rochester.

Lehigh Valley (4-4-1) received goals from Zayde Wisdom (2nd), Zach Aston-Reese (1st) and Nolan Foote (2nd). But Jason Polin (4th, 5th) paced the attack with a two-goal effort for Rochester (5-4-1) while veteran Matthew Peca (5th) racked up three points on a goal and two assists to propel the Amerks.

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The Phantoms had won four of their last five and had also gone 3-0 on the road this season couldn’t maintain the momentum into the western New York excursion.

Sustained offensive-zone time off the opening faceoff led to the fastest goal allowed this season with Jake Richard (3rd burying his blast from the right dot at 2:03 for a 1-0 lead. Polin slammed it home on the power play at 7:08 to make it 2-0 on a set up by Peca.

The Phantoms responded with Zayde Wisdom’s rebound conversion at 9:04. Noah Powell intercepted a lead pass in the neutral zone and quickly turned that into a hard shot on the rush that handcuffed goaltender Matthew Villalta leading to the Wisdom rebound tally. It was Zayde Wisdom’s second goal in the last three games and also his 41st all-time with the Phantoms.

Riley Fiddler-Schultz (3rd) rifled it through from the left dot beating Carson Bjarnason to the stick side at 13:39 successfully capitalizing on sustained pressure in the Lehigh Valley zone. The Amerks led 3-1 at the intermission and outshot the Phantoms 12-8 in the opening frame.

Polin had just enough space in the slot on the power play to bury Peca’s centering feed from the corner to make it 4-1 at 7:24 into the second period. Nolan Foote had a clean breakway halted in the glove of Villalta. Aston-Reese also had a strong chance that was almost a breakaway on a shorthanded rush following Jack Studnicka’s blocked shot and lead pass but the 32-year-old veteran couldn’t make it happen on his efforts to navigate a try from his backhand to his forehand from a tough angle on the right side of the cage.

Trailing 4-1 in the third, the Phantoms stepped up the urgency and made it a two-goal game with the team’s second shorthanded goal of the season. Studnicka raced away and chased down a rolling puck in the corner to offer a shot at Villalta that bounded out to rookie defenseman Spencer Gill who offered a quick-response blast right back at the scrambling stopper setting up a close-range rebound for Aston-Reese who blindly tucked a quick backhander with his back turned just past the left skate of the goaltender at 6:52 making it 4-2.

The Phantoms were back in the game. But Rochester was still on the power play. Jake Richard had rifled one in from the high slot at 8:05 but that goal was removed following a video review that may have determined contact with Bjarnason.

Big break for the Phantoms. And new life. But it didn’t last.

Just seven seconds later, Constantini buried it right on top of Bjarnason immediately off a faceoff win to make it 5-2. The goal had come right after the power play had expired. The Americans tacked on another just 20 seconds later with Peca zooming in and scoring the team’s sixth of the game to the upper-right corner.

Trailing 6-2, the Phantoms still had some push. Nolan Foote blasted it top shelf from the high slot on a centering feed from the left boards by Vincent Sevigny following Jacob Gaucher’s work into the zone.

The Phantoms made it 6-3 at 13:55 of the third but could get no closer as the Americans held on the rest of the way to preserve the victory.

Rochester outshot the Phantoms 30-22. Lehigh Valley was 0-2 on the power play while the Amerks were 2-for-4. This was Lehigh Valley’s lone visit to Rochester this season. The two teams will rematch on December 29 in Allentown.

The Phantoms are back at PPL Center on Sunday at 3:05 p.m. hosting the Providence Bruins. Haunted on Hamilton will feature trick-or-treating, a costume parade, pumpkin painting, and a popcorn bucket giveaway presented by Guber.

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