Phantoms Weekly – Sweep in Cleveland

Goalies Thrive in Road Series

October 20, 2025

Allentown, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (3-1-0) return from their Ohio journey with a pair of W’s in their pocket following a sweep of their two-game series at the Cleveland Monsters 3-0 and 3-2 (SO). Aleksei Kolosov recorded his first career AHL shutout and rookie Carson Bjarnason landed his first pro win in the team’s first away games of the season.

The Phantoms conclude their three-game road-swing with a Wednesday night matchup at undefeated Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (4-0-0) before returning to PPL Center for “Haunted on Hamilton” in the first of a home-and-home series against the Hershey Bears.

This Friday’s game includes a costume parade on the ice with meLVin plus trick-or-treating and pumpkin painting.

LAST WEEK
October 17 – Phantoms 3 – Cleveland Monsters 0
October 18 – Phantoms 3 – Cleveland Monsters 2 (SO)

THE WEEK AHEAD
Wednesday, October 22 (7:05) – Phantoms at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
Friday, October 24 (7:05) – Hershey Bears at Phantoms
Saturday, October 25 (7:00) – Phantoms at Hershey Bears

WEEKLY RECAP
Friday, October 17, 2025
Phantoms 3 – Cleveland Monsters 0
Aleksei Kolosov was outstanding in a 35-save shutout of the Cleveland Monsters. Kolosov backstopped a perfect 8-for-8 penalty kill and saved his best for last in a wild scramble in the crease during a desperate 6-on-4 push by the Monsters. And he beat former Flyers’ goaltending teammate Ivan Fedotov in the process! Alex Bump scored a goal before about 20 aunts, uncles and cousins at the game and also showcased a razzle-dazzle between-the-legs assist for Karsen Dorwart’s goal. Anthony Richard scored a critical goal in the third period, his first of the year, to give Lehigh Valley more breathing room.

Saturday, October 18, 2025
Phantoms 3 – Cleveland Monsters 2 (SO)
Veteran forward Carl Grundström scored in the fourth round of the shootout after Carson Bjarnason was a perfect 4-for-4 on his end of the ice and Lehigh Valley finished the two-game series sweep to spoil Cleveland’s Opening Weekend. 20-year-old rookie goaltender Carson Bjarnason was outstanding with 33 saves in securing his first pro win. Denver Barkey scored his first career pro goal hammering away at the right pad of Fedotov to pot the rebound try. Anthony Richard gave the Phantoms a 2-1 lead in the second period but Cleveland tied the game at 2-2 with just 2:20 left to force overtime.

MEDIA MATERIALS – Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for upcoming games at the following link: https://www.phantomshockey.com/media/media-materials/

HOT START – Lehigh Valley’s 3-1-0 start is tied for the best in team history. The Phantoms also went 3-1-0 in Lehigh Valley’s inaugural 2014-15 season on its way to a 4-1-0 start.
The franchise record for most games before recording a second regulation loss is 15 when the 2007-08 Philadelphia Phantoms began 5-0-0 and then eventually 8-1-0 as well as 13-1-1.

Phantoms Franchise – One regulation loss or fewer in first four games (8 times):
2024-25: (3-1-0)
2014-15 (4-1-0)
2011-12 (4-1-0) (Adirondack)
2007-08 (5-0-0) (Philadelphia)
2006-07 (3-1-0)
2005-06 (4-1-0)
2001-02 (4-0-0)
1996-97 (3-1-0)

GREAT GOALTENDING – It was an impressive weekend in Cleveland for the Lehigh Valley goaltending duo of Aleksei Kolosov and Carson Bjarnason. Kolosov stopped all 35 shots he faced to pick up his first AHL shutout while beating former teammate Ivan Fedotov. And then Carson Bjarnason made several strong denials in a 33-save gem that included a perfect 4-for-4 skills competition run to land his first pro win.

Kolosov, 23, has raced out to a strong start in his second pro season in North America and currently leads the AHL in save percentage. Kolosov was a Round 3 selection of the Philadelphia Flyers in 2021 who split his time between Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia in his rookie campaign. Bjarnason, 20, was a second-round choice of the Flyers in the 2023 draft out of Brandon, Manitoba.

AHL Leaders – Save Percentage:
1. Aleksei Kolosov LV .969
2. Filip Larsson WBS .963
3. Dennis Hildeby TOR .962

AHL Leaders – GAA:
1. Dennis Hildeby TOR 0.97
2. Aleksei Kolosov LV 1.00
2. Carl Lindbom HSK 1.00

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT – Lehigh Valley has scored 11 goals through the first four games of the season and seven of those markers have come from the team’s corps of exciting new rookie prospects. Denver Barkey, Alex Bump, Karsen Dorwart (2), Devin Kaplan (2) and Ty Murchison have all lit the lamp for the Phantoms. Barkey, Dorwart and Kaplan all wasted little time picking up their first career pro goals while Bump and Murchison had already knocked off that milestone by scoring a goal shortly afte rinitially joining the team very late last season.

KILLING IT – The Phantoms are 22/25 on the penalty kill for an 88.0% rate that ranks ninth in the AHL. Unfortunately, Lehigh Valley has been shorthanded more than any other team in the league but they have found ways to thrive against the adversity including an 8-for-8 performance in Friday’s 3-0 shutout win at Cleveland as well as a perfect 7-for-7 achievement on Opening Night, OCtober 11, against the Belleville Senators in a 5-2 win.

MEET THE PHANTOMS – Carl Grundström scored the shootout winner for the Phantoms on Saturday at Cleveland. The 27-year-old veteran has played 292 games in the NHL with Los Angeles and San Jose. That’s the most NHL experience of any player on the Phantoms. He was acuired by the Flyers shortly efore Opening Night on October 5, 2025 in a trade with the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Ryan Ellis. A second-selection of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2016, Grundström had not regularly played in the AHL since the 2018-19 season with Toronto and Ontario (Cal.) and has played in 103 career AHL games scoring 30-42-72.

ROAD WARRIORS – After Friday’s home game against Hershey, the Phantoms will play five straight on the road as they had to Hershey, Laval, Hartford and Bridgeport. The Phantoms are in the early stages of a busy road-stretch that has the team playing eight out of nine away from PPL Center.

MILESTONES –
– Dennis Gilbert, 300th pro game (Oct 17, 2025 LV at CLE)
– Zayde Wisdom, 199 pro games
– Carl Grundstrom 395 pro games
– Garrett Wilson, 888 pro games
– Garrett Wilson, 290 games with Phantoms
– Emil Andrae, 99 games with Phantoms

UPCOMING –
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 (7:05 p.m.)
Mohegan Arena, Wilkes-Barre, PA
Phantoms at W-B/Scranton Penguins
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (4-0-0) is off-and-running with a perfect start after overcoming a 3-0 deficit at Bridgeport on Sunday to post a 6-3 win including five goals in the third period against former Phantoms’ goaltender Parker Gahagen.
The Penguins won 4-1 at PPL Center on Sunday, October 12. Tristan Broz (3-1-4) scored twice and added one assist in that game. Broz has 10 career goals against the Phantoms in barely over one season.
NHL veteran Danton Heinen (1-6-7) leads the team in his first season back in the AHL since 2018 after 566 career NHL games with Boston, Anaheim, Pittsburgh, and Vancouver. 30-year-old defenseman Ryan Graves (1-3-4) has 433 career NHL games with PIT, NJ and COL. Ville Koivunen (1-3-4) scored 21-34-55 last year to lead the Penguins and make the All-AHL Rookie Team. 21-year-old lefty goaltender Sergei Murashov (3-0-0, 2.00, .930) is partway to repeating his incredible 11-0-0 start last season. Kirk MacDonald’s team is tops in goals allowed at just 1.75 per game (tied with Syracuse) and is third in offense scoring 4.25 per contest.
The Phantoms went 4-7-1 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last year including 1-4-1 in northeast Pennslyvania but then went on to sweep the Baby Pens out of the first-round of the playoffs for a second consecutive season. Alexis Gendron scored four of his 20 goals last season against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Friday, October 24, 2025 (7:05 p.m.)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Hershey Bears at Phantoms
and
Saturday, October 25, 2025 (7:00 p.m.)
Giant Center, Hershey, PA
Phantoms at Hershey Bears
Hershey (1-2-1) is off to a bumpy start following a 5-1 loss at home against Springfield. The Bears also went winless in their Opening Weekend gainst Syracuse. Gone are several of the familiar names who paved the way for their success including Mike Vecchione, Mike Sgarbossa, Hunter Shepard and former head coach Todd Nelson. Ethen Frank came down briefly but has since returned to Washington.
Henrik Rybinski (2-2-4) leads the team and Bogdan Trineyev (1-2-3) is next. 19-year-old third-rounder Ilya Protas had 50 goals and 124 points with Windsor last year to finish second in the OHL. 21-year-old Patrick Thomas is a fourth-rounder who led last year’s OHL with 77 assists with the Brantford Bulldogs. Defensemen Ryan Chesley and Leon Muggli are both second-round picks. Chesley, out of the University of Minnesota, and 19-year-old Muggli, from Switzerland, have both made two appearacnes in the World Juniors Championships.
29-year-old defenseman Louie Belpedio played 174 games for the Phantoms as an alternate captain over three seasons and also 12 games for the Philadelphia Flyers and is officially retuning to PPL Center in the regular season for the first time although we did see Belpedio in Allentown already during a preseason game. 35-year-old veteran defenseman Aaron Ness is back for new head coach Derek King who played 820 career NHL games mostly for the New York Islanders and Toronto. The Phantoms went 5-4-1 against Hershey last season including 3-2-0 in Chocolatetown but the Bears prevailed in the second-round of the playoffs in the Best of 5 series. Helge Grans scored 3-2-5 against Hershey and Jacob Gaucher had 3-1-4 in the season series. Hunter McDonald has scored two regular-season and two postseason goals against the Bears.

Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Deviln Kaplan 2-2-4
Anthony Richard 2-2-4
Karsen Dorwart 2-1-3
Emil Andrae 0-3-3
Denver Barkey 1-1-2
Alex Bump 1-1-2

LOOKING AHEAD – After Wednesday’s showdown at undefeated Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. the Phantoms are bacl at home on Friday, October 24 against the Hershey Bears for “Haunted on Hamilton.” After that, it’s a five-game roadie beginning Satuday, October 25 at Hershey and continuing with trips to Laval, Hartford (2) and Bridgeport.

AWAY

Oct

Sat 7:00 PM