PREVIEW: Phantoms vs. Hershey, Game 14
Phantoms are Rolling with 5 Game Win Streak
TONIGHT – The win streak is at five as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (9-3-1) look to keep it going tonight against the Hershey Bears (7-4-1) in the opener of a two-game home-and-home series. Lehigh Valley’s 7-3 trouncing of Springfield last night has Lehigh Valley off to one of its best starts in team history. The Bears shook off a sluggish start and have since found their groove under head coach Derek King including a 2-1 win at Syracuse last night. The Phantoms are 4-1 at home and this is Game 14 overall on the 2025-26 season. Lehigh Valley is 1-0-1 against the Bears this season. This is Game 3 out 10 in the rivalry series.
Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for tonight’s game at www.phantomshockey.com/media/media-materials/
LAST TIME – Alex Bump (4th) and Lane Pederson both had three-point nights while Denver Barkey (3rd, 4th) rocked home a pair of goals as the top line dominated in a 7-3 win over the Springfield Thunderbirds. Bump had one goal and two assists while Pederson extended his point streak to five games with a three-assist performance. Alexis Gendron (3rd) scored for a second consecutive game and Zayde Wisdom (3rd) blasted one home on the rush off an intercept from recent addition Christian Kyrou. Anthony Richard (4th) and Carl Grundstrom (4th) both set each other up for a goal and assist in the game. Rookie defenseman Ty Murchison posted a +4 rating on the evening.
ETHAN ARRIVES – Defenseman Ethan Samson has been working his way back from a preseason injury and has since been activated from Flyers injured reserve and added to the Phantoms roster. The third-year pro is a righty shooting blueliner from Delta, BC who led Phantoms defenseman with 12 goals last season while adding 12 assists for 24 points. He became just the third defenseman in Lehigh Valley history to score 12 or more goals in a season joining T.J. Brennan and Ronnie Attard.
STREAKS –
Christian Kyrou – 5 game point streak (1-6-7, +10 rating)
Lane Pederson – 5 game point streak (4-5-9)
Anthony Richard – 5 game point streak (2-5-7)
Carl Grundstrom – 4 game point streak (3-4-7)
Alexis Gendron – 2 game goal streak
IT’S A RECORD! – Christian Kyrou racked up a massive +5 rating in Friday’s win. That ties the all-time Leigh Valley record set by Will O’Neill who had a +5 performance in 2016. Kyrou is now +10 in five games since joining the Phantoms and is overall +9 on the season to tie for the AHL lead among defensemen along with teammate Ty Murchison and others.
LEAGUE LEADERS – Alex Bump (4-7-11) is tied for fourth among AHL rookie scorers and is tied for first among Eastern Conference rookies along with Jack Devine (5-6-11) of Charlotte. Bump is also tied for third in assists among AHL rookies. Bump has also blasted away for 37 shots on goal this season which rates fifth among AHL rookies.
Ty Murchison had a +4 performance on Friday to boost his season mark to +9 which is tied for first among all AHL defensemen (along with teammate Christian Kyrou) and is also second-best among all AHL rookies trailing only forward Kenny Connors (+11) of the Ontario Reign.
MORE MILESTONES FOR THE CAPTAIN – Garrett Wilson will become the first in Lehigh Valley history to play in 300 games for the team. In his sixth season with the team, Wilson currently stands at 299 games with the Phantoms and 897 career pro games so he is also on the verge of playing in his 900th career pro game. Wilson is also the seventh player in franchise history to reach 300 games with the Phantoms. The top six all did so with the Philadelphia Phantoms (1996-2009).
The rugged 33-year-old winger has played in 712 games in the AHL plus 84 career NHL games with Florida and Pittsburgh. And he began his career in the ECHL where he played in 101 games. He has scored 192 career goals with 227 assists for 419 points while also pulverizing several opponents along the way to rack up 1459 penalty minutes.
PHANTOMS FRANCHISE – GAMES PLAYED
1. Peter White – 431
2. John Slaney – 415
3. Neil Little – 351 (Goaltender)
4. Mark Greig – 348
5. Kirby Law – 309
6. Boyd Kane – 303
7. GARRETT WILSON – 299
8. Greg Carey – 277
SQUEAKERS – Lehigh Valley’s success has largely come in the clutch and in tight games. The Phantoms are 5-0-1 in one-goal contests to lead the AHL in most one-goal victories. The Phantoms are 3-1 after regulation to tie for the most wins after 60 minutes with a 2-0 mark in overtimes while going 1-1 in shootouts.
HOT START – Lehigh Valley’s 9-3-1 mark after 13 games is now the best ever start for the team. The previous top performance in the first 13 games was an 8-3-2 record accomplished by the 2017-18 team and again in the 2020-21. It is also the third-best start in franchise history. The Philadelphia Phantoms had an 11-1-1 record to begin in 2007-08.
John Snowden has set a new franchise record for best start by a new Phantoms head coach.
Phantoms Franchise – Best Record After 13 Games
2007-08: 11-1-1
2004-05: 11-2-0 (part of 17-game win streak)
2025-26: 9-3-1
KEEP IT GOING – Lehigh Valley’s five-game win streak is the longest for the team since the 2022-23 season when the Phantoms compiled a pair of streaks that long. The most recent five-game win streak was March 4-12, 2023.
The last time the Phantoms won six straight was in the 2017-18 season from October 14-27, 2017.
Lehigh Valley’s record was an eight-game win streak in the 2016-17 season from November 2-18, 2016.
The franchise record was a 17-game win streak by the Philadelphia Phantoms which was an AHL record at the time. The Phantoms began that season at 0-2-0 but then cranked out 17 consecutive victories from October 22 through November 27, 2004.
MILESTONES –
– Tucker Robertson, 99 pro games
– Garrett Wilson, 897 pro games
– Garrett Wilson, 299 games with Phantoms (Lehigh Valley record)
– Lane Pederson, 395 pro games
– Anthony Richard, 191 pro assists
HEY THERE, HERSHEY – Hershey (7-4-1) started slowly for new head coach Derek King but have since been figuring it out with wins in five of its last six including a 2-1 takedown of the North Division front-running Syracuse Crunch last night. The Phantoms and Bears split an earlier home-and-home series October 24-25 with the Phantoms prevailing at PPL Center 5-4 on Zayde Wisdom’s winning strike with 43.6 seconds left followed by Hershey’s shootout triumph in Chocolatetown the next day. Former Phantom Matt Strome (3-4-7) leads the Bears in offense along with Graeme Clarke (4-3-67) who had a two-goal game in Allentown in the first matchup and previously had back-to-back 25-goal campaigns with Utica in 2022-23 and 2023-24. Corey Schueneman and Sam Bitten have joined from Springfield after a trade for Calle Rosen shortly after the veteran defenseman had scored an overtime winner for Hershey. Clay Stevenson (4-3-0, 2.72, .896) has dipped from his stellar form two seasons ago when he had four shutouts against the Phantoms of his seven total blank sheets on the season. Ryan Chesley (Round 2 2022, Univ Minnesota), Ilya Protas (Round 3 2024, Windsor-OHL), Andrew Cristal (Round 2 2023, Kelowna/Spokane-WHL), and Alex Suzdalev (Round 3, 2022) are among the strong rookie prospects in the Caps’ system. The Phantoms were 5-4-1 against Hershey last year but the Bears took down Lehigh Valley in a Best-of-5 Calder Cup Playoffs second-round series.
SCORING LEADERS
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Anthony Richard 4-7-11
Alex Bump 4-7-11
Lane Pederson 5-5-10
Denver Barkey 4-5-9
Carl Grundstrom 4-4-8
Christian Kyrou 1-7-8
Hershey Scoring Leaders
Graeme Clarke 4-3-7
Matt Strome 3-4-7
Bogdan Trineyev 3-4-7
Ilya Protas 3-4-7
Henrik Rybinski 2-5-7
Special Teams
LV PP 20.8%, 14th / 77.6%, 24th
SPR PP 16.2%, 22nd / 83.7%, 7th
LOOKING AHEAD – The Phantoms return the favor on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. in Chocolatetown to conclude the home-and-home series.
The Phantoms return to PPL Center on Wednesday, November 19 hosting the Rochester Americans on Military Appreciation Night.
Hershey Bears
Providence Bruins
Hartford Wolf Pack
