Overtime City!
November 7, 2023
Lehigh Valley, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (4-4-2) are coming off an exciting week with three consecutive overtime contests as they prepare for a Wednesday morning rematch at Springfield followed by a home-and-home series in a pair of games against the rival Hershey Bears.
Lehigh Valley’s lone home game this week is on Saturday night against Hershey. It is also the last home game for the Phantoms in almost two weeks.
WEEKLY RECAP
Wednesday, November 1, 2023
Bears 4 – Phantoms 3 (OT)
J.R. Avon’s first career pro goal tied the game with just 4:53 remaining but the Hershey Bears pounced on a turnover for a breakaway winning goal for Chase Priskie. Felix Sandstrom made his first appearance of the season between the pipes on a conditioning loan from the Flyers. Olle Lycksell and Adam Ginning also scored goals for the Phantoms in the team’s first overtime game of the season. Former Phantom Nicolas Aube-Kubel scored a goal and an assist against his ex-team.
Friday, November 3, 2023
Phantoms 5 – Wolf Pack 4 (OT)
The Swifties took over PPL Center and the Phantoms took care of the Hartford Wolf Pack on Samu Tuomaala’s overtime winner from Elliot Desnoyers to cap an exciting night in front of a huge house of Taylor Swift fanatics at PPL Center. The 20-year-old Tuomaala achieved his first career three-point game with one goal and two assists and Olle Lycksell scored his team-leading eighth of the season. J.R. Avon scored for a second consecutive game. Rhett Gardner’s deflection of a Will Zmolek shot with about 13 minutes left was the tying tally at 4-4 to eventually force the overtime session. Parker Gahagen took over in goal for an injured Felix Sandstrom and racked up 23 saves on his way to an impressive relief win.
Saturday, November 4, 2023
Thunderbirds 3 – Phantoms 2 (OT)
The Phantoms disagreed with an overtime penalty that provided the host T-Birds with their sixth power-play of the night and second in the extra session. Dylan Coghlan’s drive beat Parker Gahagen for the game-winner. It was Coghlan’s second goal of the game. Garrett Wilson scored his second of the season in the opening minutes and Brendan Furry scored on the rush on a lead pass from Cooper Marody for his first of the year. The Phantoms never trailed in the entire game until the deciding tally in Lehigh Valley’s third consecutive overtime contest.
LOUIE LOUIE
27-year-old defenseman had not played in the NHL in 2.5 years and only had four career games to his credit. The Miami (Ohio) product had spent almost his entire career in the AHL with the Iowa Wild and Lehigh Valley Phantoms totaling over 300 games. But opportunity came knocking for Belpedio who has now played in six more consecutive games in the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers following a recall to get another look. Last Thursday, Belpedio scored his first career NHL goal in Philadelphia’s 5-1 victory a Buffalo. Way to go, Louie!
TRANSACTIONS
Nov 2 – Delete Cal Petersen (G) – Recalled to PHI
Nov 2 – Add Parker Gahagen (G) – Recalled to LV from Reading
Nov 2 – Add Darren Brady (D) – Recalled to LV from Reading
Nov 4 – Add Nolan Maier (G) – Recalled to LV from Reading
Nov 5 – Delete Felix Sandstrom (G) – Recalled to PHI, placed on IR
Nov 6 – Delete Darren Brady (D) – Loaned to Reading
Nov 6 – Delete Jacob Gaucher (F) – Loaned to Reading
PHANTASTIC!
Lehigh Valley is on a three-game point streak. The three overtime games is second-most in the AHL trailing only Rochester which has five.- 20-year-old rookie Samu Tuomaala had four points on the weekend including the overtime goal on Friday and three assists in the Friday and Saturday games combined. He also moved into a three-way tie for the league lead in points
- J.R. Avon recorded his first two professional goals in back-to-back games last week
- Olle Lycksell (8-0-8) is one off the league lead for goals. Lycksell’s four power-play goals rates second in the AHL. He has eight total goals in the last eight games beginning with his October 20 hat trick at Springfield.
- Lehigh Valley is second in the AHL with three shorthanded goals. The Phantoms scored all three in the same game on October 15 against Belleville to tie a franchise record
- The Phantoms offense is alive in the second period with an AHL-leading 121 shots on goal
- The Phantoms are 3-0-0 when allowing two goals or fewer
UPCOMING
Wednesday, November 8, 2023 (10:35 a.m.)
MassMutual Center, Springfield, MA
Phantoms at Springfield Thunderbirds
Rise and Shine for an unusual morning start in Western Mass!
It is also the second consecutive game for the Phantoms at Springfield’s MassMutual Center.
Springfield (6-5-0) had its five-game win streak snapped on Sunday in a 3-2 loss at the Bridgeport Islanders. Their streak was a nice bounce-back from a lousy 0-for-3 weekend October 20-22 in which they lost two of their three games against the Phantoms.
The Phantoms are 2-0-1 against the T-Birds entering the fourth of six meetings this season which is also Lehigh Valley’s final visit to Western Mass this year. Olle Lycksell had a hat trick at Springfield on October 20 in a 5-2 win.
Adam Gaudette is in a three-way tie for the AHL lead with nine goals which includes three against the Phantoms. He is also just one ahead of Olle Lycksell. Feisty Australian Nathan Walker (8-7-15) had a hat trick against the Phantoms two seasons ago and, more recently, the talented 29-year-old recorded a pair of two-goal games last weekend for four total goals in the more recent three outings. 30-year-old Matthew Peca (2-10-12) is the team’s new captain following the off-season retirement of Tommy Cross.
Young goaltending prospect Vadim Zherenko (4-2-0, 2.52, .929) has been very good but the Phantoms have only faced Malcolm Subban (2-3-0, 2.86, .905) in three previous meetings with the Birds.
The unusual morning start is part of an annual School Field Trip day. The Phantoms were also the opponent for the Springfield Morning Game on November 13, 2019 in a 2-1 loss despite pouring on 42 shots.
Saturday, November 11, 2023 (7:05 p.m.)
PPL Center, Allentown PA
Phantoms vs. Bears
and
Sunday, November 12, 2023 (3:00 p.m.
GIANT Center, Hershey PA
Phantoms at Bears
The I-78 rivalry continues as the Phantoms and Bears meet for the third and fourth time in just over two weeks.
Hershey (8-3-0) is at the top of the Atlantic Division after winning the Calder Cup last year. The Bears squeaked past the Phantoms in overtime in a 4-3 decision last Wednesday.
Saturday’s game marks Hershey’s visit to Allentown in the regular season although the Phantoms did not knock off the Bears in a preseason contest at PPL Center on Sunday, October 8 on Tanner Laczynski’s overtime winner.
Saturday is also expected to mark the first PPL Center appearance for former Phantom Nicolas Aube-Kubel since he played for Lehigh Valley from 2015-2019. Aube-Kubel is sixth all-time in Lehigh Valley history in games played (229) and goals (50) and is also eighth in total points (105). He also played in 103 games with the Philadelphia Flyers scoring 10-18-28. All told, Aube-Kubel played in 332 total games in the organization with the Flyers and Phantoms combined scoring 60-73-133. Welcome back, Q!!
Hershey lost at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Friday 2-1 on Marc Johnstone’s goal with just 0.5 seconds remaining but the Bears bounced back on Saturday to post a 3-1 win against the Bridgeport Islanders. 30-year-old veteran Mike Sgarbossa (3-9-12) leads the Bears while Ethen Frank (5-3-8) is tops in goals following his strong 30-goal rookie campaign. Frank has scored 10 of his 35 career AHL goals against Lehigh Valley including a hat trick last season. Hershey’s defense is allowing just 2.27 goals per game (4th in AHL) and 25.6 shots against (3rd in AHL)
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Olle Lycksell 8-0-8
Samu Tuomaala 2-6-8
Tanner Laczynski 1-7-8
Elliot Desnoyers 2-5-7
Cooper Marody 2-5-7
Garrett Wilson 2-5-7
Phantoms Tickets are available HERE
UPCOMING –
Wednesday, November 8 (10:35 a.m.) – Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Springfield Thunderbirds
Saturday, November 11 (7:05 p.m.) – Hershey Bears at Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Sunday, November 12 (3:00 p.m.) – Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Hershey Bears
Friday, November 17 (7:00 p.m.) – Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Laval Rocket
Saturday, November 18 (7:00 p.m.) – Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Belleville Senators
