Bring on 2024
January 3, 2024
Allentown, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (13-13-5) open the 2024 portion of the schedule with a pair of rivalry road games at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Hershey Bears on Saturday and Sunday.
WEEKLY RECAP
Wednesday, December 27, 2023
Phantoms 5 – Comets 4
Lehigh Valley racked up five rapid-fire goals and then hung on for a 5-4 win against the Utica Comets at PPL Center. Trailing 1-0 after former Phantom Max Willman scored just 11 seconds into the game, Lehigh Valley proceeded to score three goals just 3:20 apart with strikes from Garrett Wilson (6th), Wade Allison (7th) and Alexis Gendron (5th). The second period saw Jacob Gaucher score his first career goal in the AHL and Cooper Marody tack on his eighth. The Phantoms scored all of their goals at 5-on-5.
Saturday, December 30, 2023
Bears 4 – Phantoms 0
It was a packed house at PPL Center on Whiteout Night as the fans enjoyed the season debut of the team’s fresh Whiteout look and also enjoyed their Whiteout Knit Caps courtesy of the Morning Call. Unfortunately, 37 shots wasn’t enough for the Phantoms as Hershey goaltender Clay Stevenson recorded his league-leading fifth shutout of the season to lead Hershey to a 4-0 victory despite a 37-17 difference in the shots on goal. Former Phantom Matt Strome scored a pair of goals for the visiting Bears.
Sunday, December 31, 2023
Checkers 5 – Phantoms 2
An enthusiastic crowd arrived at PPL Center to begin their New Year’s Eve partying ahead the World’s Largest Puck Drop outside the arena at midnight. The Phantoms rallied from an early 4-0 deficit to cut the visiting Charlotte’s lead to 4-2 on goals by Louie Belpedio (2nd) and Jacob Gaucher (2nd). But Charlotte goaltender Spencer Knight hung on and Charlotte captain Zac Dalpe’s two goals (8th, 9th) propelled the decision in the last game of the calendar year.
GENDRON TO QMJHL
The Philadelphia Flyers have reassigned forward Alexis Gendron to the QMJHL where he will play with Drummondville following a trade with Gatineau for his rights. The 20-year-old Gendron has five goals and two assists in 17 games with the Phantoms this season.
POWER PLAY
Lehigh Valley’s power play has gone into a bit of a mini-slump at 0-for-10 since returning from the Holiday Break. That is the team’s first three-game drought without a power-play goal and comes immediately after a stretch of
scoring a power-play goal in 15 of the previous 16 games going 18-for-56 (32.1%) from November 12 through December 22. The Phantoms rate fifth in the AHL at 22.7% and the team’s road power play is second in the AHL at 27.5%.
Cooper Marody (3-11-14) was briefly leading the AHL in power-play points and still leads the Phantoms. Samu Tuomaala (5-8-13) is tied for the second-most power-play goals for AHL rookies.
Other power-play leaders for Lehigh Valley include Olle Lycksell (6-6-12), Tanner Laczynski (4-6-10),
Emil Andrae (2-7-9), J.R. Avon (3-1-4) and Wade Allison (2-1-3).
ELITE EMIL
Emil Andrae scored 2-9-11 in the month of December in 11 games. That rates him second in scoring for December among AHL rookie defensemen trailing only Brandt Clarke of Ontario. Andrae placed sixth overall among AHL defensemen for December scoring and was fourth in assists.
HIS AIM IS TRUE
Wade Allison has been shooting the puck more and the results are paying off. Allison led the Phantoms in shots on goal in December with 43 attempts leading to five goals. He was eighth in the AHL for most shots in December and was tied for second among forwards in the Eastern Conference trailing only Alex Nylander of WBS while he was even with Pierrick Dube of Hershey.
Allison is second on the Phantoms this season with 75 shots on goal trailing Olle Lycksell who has 95 shots.
PHANTOMS DECEMBER LEADERS
Cooper Marody 3-9-12
Emil Andrae 2-9-11
Ronnie Attard 2-7-9
Samu Tuomaala 4-4-8
Wade Allison 5-1-6
2023 LEADERS
Most points for the Phantoms since January 1, 2023
Cooper Marody 19-41-60 (64 games)
Olle Lycksell 23-29-52 (63 games)
Garrett Wilson 19-27-46 (65 games)
Elliot Desnoyers 16-23-49 (65 games)
Ronnie Attard 13-24-37 (69 games)
UPCOMING
Saturday, January 6, 2024 (6:05 p.m.)
Mohegan Sun Arena, Wilkes-Barre, PA
Phantoms at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
The Phantoms trek to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (16-12-3) to meet the Penguins for the first time this season. Lehigh Valley was 7-4-1 against the Penguins last season including 6-2-0 since January.
WBS stands in fifth place in the division tied with Charlotte after splitting a pair of games with the Checkers last weekend taking a 4-1 win before dropping a 6-2 decision in the finale. Rem Pitlick (8-15-23) leads the Baby Pens after coming over from Montreal. The University of Minnesota product has played in 123 NHL games with Nashville, Minnesota and Montreal. Defenseman Ty Smith (4-18-22), was a New Jersey Devils first-rounder in 2018 and was NHL All-Rookie Team in 2020-21. Alex Nylander (11-8-19) is a former Buffalo first-rounder who has played in five games with Pittsburgh this season. Second-rounder Joel Blomqvist (9-4-2, 2.31, .915) has performed well since the Round 2 pick in 2020 arrived from Finland this season.
Sunday, January 7, 2023 (3:00 p.m.)
Giant Center, Hershey, PA
Phantoms at Hershey Bears
First-place Hershey (27-6-0) has won eight straight and has the best record in pro hockey with an .818 points percentage. Clay Stevenson (12-4-0, 1.70, .937) has been stellar and the top goaltender in the league. Three of his five shutouts this season have come against Lehigh Valley. 31-year-old veteran Mike Sgarbossa (6-26-32) leads the AHL in assists while free-agent pickup from France, Pierrick Dube, has a league-leading 17 goals including four against the Phantoms. Ethen Frank (14-13-27) is picking up where he left off in his AHL All-Rookie team season when he scored 30 goals. Hershey’s defense is tough to crack as the Bears lead the AHL with just 2.06 goals allowed per game and under 26 shots allowed per contest.
Lehigh Valley is 1-3-1 against Hershey but won 4-1 the last time the Phantoms visited Chocolate Town on November 12.
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Cooper Marody 8-19-27
Samu Tuomaala 8-17-25
Tanner Laczynski 8-15-23
Olle Lycksell 12-9-21
Garrett Wilson 6-10-16
Ronnie Attard 5-11-16
Phantoms Tickets are available HERE
RING IN 2024
The Phantoms have pair of home games the following weekend and fans can Ring in 2024 with a 2-for-24 special for either night. The Phantoms host the Hartford Wolf Pack on Friday, January 12 and then take on the rival Hershey Bears on Saturday, January 13.
UPCOMING
Saturday, January 6 (6:05) – Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
Sunday, January 7 (3:00) – Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Hershey Bears
Friday, January 12 (7:05) – Hartford Wolf Pack at Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Saturday, January 13 (7:05) – Hershey Bears at Lehigh Valley Phantoms – Valley Youth House Night presented by Air Products
