PREVIEW: Phantoms at Monsters, Game 3
Tonight
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (1-1-0) play their first road game of the season as they travel to northeast Ohio to take on the Cleveland Monsters (2-0-0), AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets. It is Cleveland’s home opener and tonight’s game is also the first of a two-game weekend series.
Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for tonight’s game here: Media Materials
Last Time
Pennsylvania foes renewed rivalry acquaintances in Game 2 last Sunday afternoon and the visiting Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins partly avenged last year’s playoff ousting with a 4-1 victory at PPL Center as the Phantoms ran out of gas in the weekend finale. Helge Grans struck on the power play for the team’s lone goal but Filip Larsson otherwise held off the Orange and Black. 20-year-old rookie Carson Bjarnason stopped 26 of 29 shots in his pro debut ut two of the goals he surrendered were on the power play. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Tristan Broz was up to his old tricks with a two-goal game including an empty-netter to cap it off as the Baby Pens took Round 1 of the season series.
TRANSACTIONS –
Oct 12 – Emil Andrae (D) – Recalled to PHI
Oct 12 – Dennis Gilbert (D) – Assigned to Phantoms by PHI
Oct 13 – Massimo Rizzo (F) – Assigned to Reading Royals by PHI
Oct 15 – Emile Chouinard (D) – Loaned by Phantoms to Reading
KAP-TIVATING – Rookie newcomer Devin Kaplan arrived on the scene ready to Kap-ture the moment. Kaplan’s rifle from the right circle to the upper-left corner at 6:18 put him into a select group of Opening Night first-goal scorers where he joins Jacob Gaucher, Cooper Marody, Zayde Wisdom, Scott Laughton among others. The 21-year-old rookie out of Boston University appeared in three straight Frozen Fours with the Terriers. He also made his NHL debut with the Flyers at the end of last season shortly after signing his entry-level contract. A Bridgewater, NJ native getting the opportunity to play close to home, Kaplan was a product of the North Jersey Avalanche and New Jersey Rockets minor hockey programs eventually progressing to the U.S. National Development Team.
MEET THE PHANTOMS – 28-year-old veteran center Lane Pederson scored in his Lehigh Valley debut on Opening Night, his 112th career goal in the AHL. Entering the season, Pederson has played in 311 AHL games with Bakersfield, Abbotsford, Chicago, San Jose and Tucson. The Saskatoon, SK native also has 71 NHL games of experience with Columbus, Vancouver, San Jose and Arizona. Pederson is also a new father with his three-month old baby attending his first-ever hockey games last weekend!
THE CLEVELAND KID – Rookie forward Alex Bump is from Minnesota but has Family Ties in northeast Ohio. His Mom is from Cleveland and his uncle works as a video producer in the very same arena as tonight’s game where he works with the Cleveland Monsters and Cleveland Cavaliers. Bump expects about 20 relatives for his cheering section at tonight’s game including some cousins who have never had the opportunity to see him play.
ROAD WARRIORS – The Phantoms are playing eight of their next nine games on the road in a stretch that will take the team to Cleveland, Wilkes-Barre, Hershey, Laval, Hartford and Bridgeport.
The lone home game in the next three weeks is Friday, October 24 against the Hershey Bears featuring spooky fun for the kiddos at “Haunted on Hamilton.”
PHANTASTIC – Lehigh Valley improved to 8–4–0 all-time in season openers and 21–9–0 overall in franchise season openers dating back to 1996.
IMPENDING MILESTONES –
– Dennis Gilbert, 299 pro games
– Zayde Wisdom, 197 pro games
– Carl Grundstrom 393 pro games
– Garrett Wilson, 887 pro games
– Garrett Wilson, 289 games with Phantoms
OF MONSTERS AND PHANTOMS – Cleveland (2-0-0) swept a two-game series at the Utica Comets last weekend with a 1-0 win and a 3-2 overtime triumph. Friday night is Cleveland’s home opener. Former Philadelphia Flyers’ goaltender Ivan Fedotov posted a 21-save shutout at Utica on Friday in his AHL debut. He will potentially be between the pipes against the Phantoms this weekend. Fourth-rounder from Finland, Mikael Pyyhtia, has 66 career NHL games with Columbus and also had the overtime winner to finish the weekend.
Trey Fix-Wolansky and his franchise-leading 112 goals have since departed for the Hartford Wolf Pack. Riley Bezeau scored a goal and got in a fight in his Monsters’ debut after joining from the Charlotte Checkers. 2022 second-rounder Luca Del Bel Balluz racked up 27-26-53 last year. 31-year-old captain Brendan Gaunce returns to Cleveland after one season with the Iowa Wild and Minnesota Wild. 30-year-old winger Hudson Fasching brings 175 career NHL games of experience. Cleveland finished fifth in the North Division last year at 35-26-11 under third-year head coach Trent Vogelhuber and advanced past Toronto to the second round of the playoffs before falling to the Laval Rocket. The Phantoms were 3-1-0 against Cleveland last season including a 7-3 thrashing at PPL Center rallying for five goals in the third period in the most recent meeting on April 18. Garrett Wilson had two goals in that game and three goals against Cleveland last year.
UP NEXT – The Phantoms wrap up their two-game weekend set in Cleveland on Saturday night and then head to Wilkes-Barre for Round 2 against the Penguins on Wednesday, October 22.
The Phantoms will be back at PPL Center on Friday, October 24 celebrating “Haunted on Hamilton” when they host the rival Hershey Bears.
Cleveland Monsters
Cleveland Monsters
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
Hershey Bears
