10th Season Underway!
October 18, 2023
Lehigh Valley, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (1-1-0) split a pair of 5-2 decisions in their 10th Opening Weekend at PPL Center and now the team gets ready to play its first road games of the season as part of a busy three-game weekend.
WEEKLY RECAP
Friday, October 14, 2023
Monsters 5 – Phantoms 2
Cooper Marody scored the team’s first goal of the season to join a select group and Samu Tuomaala blasted home his first career professional goal in North America before a frenzied and jammed sellout crowd on Opening Night. But the Cleveland Monsters raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first period to gain the early edge en route to a 5-2 win at PPL Center. Trey Fix-Wolansky led the Cleveland offense with two goals and two assists.
Lehigh Valley is now 6-4-0 on Opening Night and the franchise record all-time in season-openers is 18-10-0 going back to the beginning of the Philadelphia Phantoms in 1996.
Sunday, October 15, 2023
Phantoms 5 – Senators 2
It was all about the shorties for the Phantoms in their Opening Weekend finale as they tied a franchise record with three shorthanded goals in one game. 19-year-old Alexis Gendron scored his first career professional goal while Cooper Marody, Adam Ginning and Rhett Gardner all contributed goals while on the penalty kill. Tanner Laczynski cranked home a 5-on-3 power-play goal while adding two assists. 30-year-old goaltender Parker Gahagen was touched for a pair of goals in the opening minutes but was terrific following his rocky start with 26 consecutive season in picking up his first AHL victory in three years.
WE’RE PROUD OF YOU!
Egor Zamula scored his first career NHL goal in Tuesday’s home-opening win for the Philadelphia Flyers.
Emil Andrae became the 42nd Lehigh Valley Phantom to make an NHL debut for the Flyers when he got in the lineup last Saturday at Ottawa.
WELCOME TO THE AHL SHOW
Some young talents played their first game in the AHL last weekend including Matt Brown, Alexis Gendron, Jacob Gaucher and Ethan Samson. 19-year-old Gendron was a seventh-round selection of the Flyers in 2022 and scored his first professional goal in Sunday’s win against Belleville.
Next up could be 20-year-old forward J.R. Avon who was activated from injured reserve and added to the Phantoms roster on Wednesday.
CAPTAINS
32-year-old veteran left wing Garrett Wilson has been named the third full-time captain of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Colin McDonald (2015-19) and Cal O’Reilly (2019-23) are the team’s first full-time captain.
Defenseman Louie Belpedio is the team’s full-time alternate captain.
Three more players will rotate the second A: Tanner Laczynski, Victor Mete, Cooper Marody
UPCOMING
Friday, October 20, 2023 (7:05)
MassMutual Center, Springfield, MA
Phantoms at Springfield Thunderbirds
Springfield (1-1-0) split a pair of games to open the season with a 3-1 loss to the Hartford Wolf Pack followed by a 4-3 win over the Providence Bruins. The T-Birds finished in fourth-place in the Atlantic Division in 2023-24 at 38-26-8 but were bounced in the first round of the postseason by Hartford. Nathan Walker (2-1-3) leads the team in scoring to begin. The diminutive Australian registered a hat trick against the Phantoms two seasons ago and also had an NHL hat trick with the St. Louis Blues in the same season.
Saturday, October 21, 2023 (7:00)
XL Center, Hartford, CT
Phantoms at Hartford Wolf Pack
Hartford (2-0-0) is off and running with an undefeated start with a 3-2 shootout win at Providence and then a 3-1 win at Springfield. The New York Rangers’ affiliate will play its home opener on Friday night against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Captain Jonny Brodzinski (2-1-3) is back after leading the team in scoring last season (21-27-48). First-rounder Brennan Othmann impressed in his official pro debut with a pair of goals in Friday’s opener at Providence. Veteran Louie Domingue and prospect Dylan Garand comprise the goaltending duo. Saturday is the first of six scheduled matchups between the Flyers and Rangers farm clubs. The two-teams will meet again next Sunday, October 29 in Allentown.
Sunday, October 22, 2023 (3:05)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Phantoms vs. Springfield Thunderbirds
The Phantoms and T-Birds rematch on Sunday afternoon at PPL Center. This is the second of six games between the division rivals this season. Veteran backstop Malcolm Subban and young prospect Vadim Zherenko are the goalies. Captain Tommy Cross announced his retirement over the summer but two-time Calder Cup Finalist Matthew Peca returns to the T-Birds to assume leadership duties.
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Cooper Marody 2-1-3
Tanner Laczynski 1-2-3
Alexis Gendron 1-0-1
Rhett Gardner 1-0-1
Adam Ginning 1-0-1
Samu Tuomaala 1-0-1
Phantoms Tickets are available HERE
UPCOMING –
Friday, October 20 (7:05) – Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Springfield Thunderbirds
Saturday, October 21 (7:05) – Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Hartford Wolf Pack
Sunday, October 22 (5:05) – Springfield Thunderbirds at Lehigh Valley Phantoms
