All Bark Plus the Bite

Denver Barkey 4 Points Drives 6-2 Win at Bridgeport

November 5, 2025

Bridgeport, CT – Denver Barkey led a third-period surge as part of a four-point night as Lehigh Valley pulled away at the Bridgeport Islanders 6-2 on Wednesday night. The Phantoms ended their five-game road trip with a three-game win streak and now carry a 7-3-1 record with them back to PPL Center for their next home game on Saturday against the Toronto Marlies.

Barkey’s clutch breakaway goal in the third gave the Phantoms a 4-2 lead and then he quickly followed that up with an assist of a Lane Pederson goal just 12 seconds later. The 20-year-old rookie out of the London Knights of the OHL had just three points entering the game at Bridgeport. He more than doubled that in just one night.

Lane Pederson (3rd, 4th) also had a big game including the empty-net goal to seal the win. And Alex Bump (3rd) opened the scoring with his breakaway goal from Barkey and then added an assist later on.

But it was really Carson Bjarnason (3-1-1) who stole the show for the first two-and-a-half periods on his way to a career-best 35-save performance and possibly his best game of the season. Bjarnason added the cherry on top at the end when he recorded a secondary assist on Pederson’s empty-net goal representing his own first career pro point.

Lehigh Valley (7-3-1) has its best record after 11 games since the Phantoms in 2017-18 started at 7-2-2 (excepting the shortened 2020-21 COVID season) and John Snowden’s 7-3-1 mark to begin a head coaching tenure with the Phantoms is an all-time best in franchise history.

Despite the lopsided and misleading final result, this one definitely wasn’t easy. Bridgeport (3-6-1) received nine power plays in the game and Lehigh Valley’s penalty kill was tested throughout. Several blocks as well as big saves by Bjarnason got them through it. The Islanders finally broke through in the third period to tie the game as they went 1-for-9 on the man advantage.

Barkey’s first point was an intercept at the Bridgeport blueline followed by a feed to Alex Bump for a quick breakaway. Bump buried it on the glove side of Hogberg for a 1-0 lead at 5:43 into the game. Bjarnason stood on his head with 14 saves in the first including multiple denials in tight.

Chris Terry scored his 331st career AHL goal on a one-timer off the far post from the right circle almost exactly 20 minutes later to the game for Bridgeport at 1-1 early in the second period.

Cooper Marody (2nd) made it consecutive games with a goal while he was covered on the backdoor. With a body holding him away from Carl Grundstrom’s feed across, Marody desperately reached past to try to nudge the puck forward and somehow slipped it underneath the left pad of Hogberg for a 2-1 lead at 15:40 into the second.

The Islanders had back-to-back power plays early in the third and eventually buried one on their eighth try when Matthew Highmore (2nd) deflected a Matt Maggio shot at the net-front at 7:01 to tie the game at 2-2.

At that time, shots in the third period were 8-0 and shots in the game were 33-15.

Lehigh Valley was hanging on while Bridgeport had momentum and was surging.

Enter Denver Barkey.

Philadelphia’s third-round selection in the 2023 Draft took control with three straight points. The Phantoms were on the power play when one of the Islanders’ defenders had a broken stick and took the chance of rushing to the bench. Barkey saw the opening and carried aggressively into the open slot to draw a defender thus leaving Anthony Richard open at the bottom of the right circle to bury his sharp-angle go-ahead goal at 8:29 making it 3-2.

Christian Kyrou picked up his second point of the night when he sent Barkey zipping in past the Islanders’ defense on a perfectly timed pass setting up a breakaway goal at 11:52 to make it 4-2.

Barkey rotated the puck over to Lane Pederson from the bottom of the left circle who scored his goal just 12 seconds later stretching the advantage to 5-2 on Lehigh Valley’s fastest consecutive goals of the season.

Bridgeport’s ninth power play would fizzle out despite pulling the goalie for a 6-on-4 advantage. Bjarnason played the puck to the corner and Carl Grundstrom muscled across the neutral zone and held off a defender to eventually connect with Pederson who walked it into the empty net for his second goal of the game to provide for the 6-2 final.

The Phantoms went 3-1-1 on their five-game road trip and are 5-2-1 overall on the road. Lehigh Valley has played eight of its first 11 games on the road. The Phantoms are just two points behind first-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the Atlantic Division and just one point behind the second-place Providence Bruins.

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms return to PPL Center this Saturday hosting the Toronto Marlies on Phantoms Ballcap Night presented by Service Electric and also featuring a POstgame Skate with the Players from NM Insurance.

Final AWAY