Phantoms Tripped in Road Trip Finale

Hamilton Doubles Up Lehigh Valley, 6-3

November 7, 2026

Hamilton, ON – Lehigh Valley blasted away for 36 shots on goal but Josh Kotai was ready and the Hamilton Hammers took advantage of their opportunities in a 6-3 victory on Saturday at TD Coliseum. Danila Klimovich (1st), Alex Bump (9th) and Alex Ciernik (2nd) all scored for the Orange and Black who finished their three-game Canadian road trip with a 1-2-0 record.

Hamilton (4-9-2) scored a pair of shorthanded goals in the first period and then distanced themselves late in the second with back-to-back markers in transition. Lehigh Valley (5-7-1) had surrendered just one shorthanded goal all season before the Hammers zipped up ice for a pair of shorties in a single period.

Lehigh Valley struck first with Klimovich’s top-shelf snipe from the top of the right circle at 7:30 going top shelf for his first goal as a Phantom and 71st career goal in the AHL.

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But the Hammers converted on Lehigh Valley’s next power play with Liam Foudy (5th) sliding a backhander around Carson Bjarnason on a 2-on-1 with Cam Thissing at 8:56 to tie the score. 11 minutes later would come another Phantoms power play. And another Hamilton shorthanded goal. This time it was NHL veteran Pierre Engvall with the intercept who raced away on a 2-on-1. Engvall took the shot himself at 19:43 making it 2-1 going into the break.

The Phantoms continued their third power play into the second period and then a puck over glass for a delay of game penalty gave the Phantoms 26 seconds of 5-on-3. But the man-advantage couldn’t come through with the equalizer and Hamilton survived the consecutive power plays to maintain the lead.

Garrett Wilson dropped the gloves and landed some big blows in his fight with Hunter Drew which also sparked the team into more strong play. Lehigh Valley stacked multiple shifts together and had the Hammers hemmed in at times but Kotai held strong.

Back-to-back letdowns at the end of the second period led to quick goals in transition for newcomer Antonio Stranges (1st) and Matt Luff (3rd) at 17:23 and 19:29 as Hamilton suddenly boosted its margin to 4-1.

Aleksei Kolosov came on in relief for Carson Bjarnason to begin the third.

And Alex Bump scored just 28 seconds into the final period on a backhanded rebound in the slot off a Jack Studnicka try down low. Bump’s team-leading ninth of the year pulled the Phantoms back to within two at 4-2.

But Hunter Drew (2nd) took less than two minutes to answer right back on his rebound try in a net-front scramble at 2:21 making it 5-2.

Ciernik scored from way over in the corner on the power play when his feed into the middle went off the paddle of Kotai and then was kicked into the net by a Hamilton defenseman. The lucky break the Phantoms were looking for once again brought the Phantoms close at 5-3.

But NHL veteran Robbie Fabbri induced Kolosov to commit to the left wing circle opening up an easy seam-pass and empty slam-dunk on the power play for Quinn Finley at 6:52 into the third period to again establish a three-goal cushion at 6-3 thus closing the scoring.

Lehigh Valley had a season-high 36 shots on goal and outshot the Hammers 36-22. The Phantoms were 2-for-6 on the power play but surrendered two shorthanded goals while Hamilton went 1-for-3 on the man advantage.

The Phantoms were playing their first game in Hamilton, Ontario in almost 15 years. It was the team’s first visit here since December 6, 2011 when the Adirondack Phantoms dropped a 1-0 overtime decision to the Hamilton Bulldogs in a classic goaltenders duel between Nathan Lawson of Hamilton and Michael Leighton of Adirondack.

The Phantoms and Hammers will rematch on Friday night at PPL Center with our special Friday the 13th promotion. Lehigh Valley also hosts the Charlotte Checkers on Hockey is for Everyone Night on Saturday, November 14.

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