On a Roll and On the Road
January 16, 2024
Allentown, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (16-13-6) look to keep it rolling as they head up north on a three-game road swing through Rochester and Cleveland. The Phantoms are on a four-game point streak to open 2024 at 3-0-1 following a pair of exciting home wins last weekend over Hartford and Hershey before exuberant and enthusiastic crowds.
WEEKLY RECAP
Friday, January 12, 2024
Phantoms 4 – Wolf Pack 1
Friday Night Fights at PPL Center provided one of the wildest and most entertaining games of the season as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms took down the Hartford Wolf Pack 4-1. Olle Lycksell had a pair of goals in the first period while Jacob Gaucher and Victor Mete added markers in the third. But the bad blood between the teams is what had everyone talking. Garrett Wilson scrapped with Hartford goaltender Louis Domingue as the tensions came to a boil. Both players were tossed but the temperature remained high with various jabs and scraps and altercations continuing all the way to the finish.
Saturday, January 13, 2023
Phantoms 4 – Bears 3 (SO)
J.R. Avon scored in the fourth round for Lehigh Valley’s first shootout win of the season in a 4-3 come-from-behind verdict against the first-place Hershey Bears. Ronnie Attard (7th) tied the game in the third period and also had a nifty assist on a Samu Tuomaala give-and-goal in the first. Olle Lycksell scored his third goal of the weekend and team-leading 15th of the campaign.
Cal Petersen was spectacular in goal with several incredible and acrobatic saves. His hip-slide, two-pad stack in the second period kicking his right leg way up high in the air to deny a Hershey 2-on-1 shorthanded rush goes down as one of the greatest saves of all-time in Lehigh Valley Phantoms history.
TRANSACTIONS
Jan 12 – Mason Millman (D) – Reassigned to Lehigh Valley by Philadelphia (from Reading-ECHL)
SAMU KNOWS THE WAY TO SAN JOSE
Samu Tuomaala has been named to represent the Phantoms AHL All-Star Classic on February 4-5 in San Jose, Cal. Tuomaala just celebrated his 21st birthday on January 8 and is having a tremendous rookie season with 11 goals and 18 assists for 29 points which is second on the Phantoms. The Round 2 selection of the Flyers in 2021 is also fourth among AHL rookies and second among Eastern Conference first-year players in points and is also fourth in AHL rookie assists and tied for first (Joshua Roy, Laval) among Eastern Conference rookies.
Tuomaala has 13 points (5G, 8A) on the power-play which is also fourth among AHL rookies.
Lehigh Valley Phantoms Named to AHL All-Star Classic
2024 – Samu Tuomaala (San Jose, CA)
2023 – Ronnie Attard, Tyson Foerster, Cam York (Laval, PQ)
2020 – Morgan Frost (Ontario, CA)
2019 – Greg Carey, Colin McDonald (Springfield, MA)
2018 – T.J. Brennan, Danick Martel, Oskar Lindblom (Utica, NY)
2017 – T.J. Brennan, Taylor Leier, Jordan Weal (Allentown, PA)
2016 – Nick Cousins, Anthony Stolarz (Syracuse, NY)
2015 – Brandon Manning (Utica, NY)
WORKING OVERTIME
The Phantoms are third in the AHL with 11 overtime games trailing only Rochester (13) and Springfield (12). Lehigh Valley is 4-5 in overtime decisions and 1-1 in shootouts. Lehigh Valley has gone to overtime in three out of four games to begin calendar year 2024.
The Phantoms have also gone to overtime in four consecutive away games including December 21 and December 22 (shootout) at Charlotte followed by overtime thrillers on January 6 at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and January 7 at Hershey. Lehigh Valley has played to overtime in five of the last nine games overall as well as six of the last 12.
Samu Tuomaala is the first Lehigh Valley rookie to score two overtime goals in a season (Nov 3 vs. HFD and Jan 6 at WBS) while Ronnie Attard (Dec 13 vs. CLT) and Tanner Laczynski (Dec 21 at CLT) have also scored overtime winners.
PHANTOMS MILESTONE FOR GARRETT
Wednesday will be captain Garrett Wilson’s 200th game with the Phantoms. He will become the 11th player to achieve the feat with Lehigh Valley as well as the 28th all-time in Phantoms franchise history.
Wilson has scored 42 goals with 59 assists for 101 points through four seasons with the Phantoms. He has played in 612 career games in the AHL via stays with San Antonio, Portland, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Toronto and Lehigh Valley scoring 136-170-306 with 1,033 penalty minutes. Wilson has also played in 84 NHL games with Pittsburgh and Florida scoring 2-4-6.
ROLLING IN 2024
Phantoms scoring leaders in January:
Cooper Marody 1-4-5
Olle Lycksell 3-2-5
Samu Tuomaala 3-1-4
Ronnie Attard 2-2-4
UPCOMING
Wednesday, January 17, 2024 (7:05 p.m.)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Phantoms at Rochester Americans
Rochester (16-13-4) is coming off a weekend split in Charlotte including a 5-2 loss in an outdoor game on Saturday. Defense and goaltending has been inconsistent for the affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres as the Amerks allow 3.9 goals per game which is worst in the AHL and are also at the bottom of the league on the penalty kill at 75.4%. A pair of young first-rounders, Isak Rosen (9-15-24) and Juri Kulich (16-7-23), lead the Americans and both will represent the team at the upcoming AHL All-Star Classic.
20-year-old Rosen is a #14 overall selection in 2021 out of Sweden. Kulich scored 24 goals in the AHL last year at just 18 years old. This year, he’s eclipsing that pace with 16 goals before the halfway mark. Kulich also tacked on another 6-6-12 for Czechia at the recently completed World Juniors. Both were absent on recalls to Buffalo when The Phantoms pushed past Rochester on November 25 at PPL Center in a 5-4 decision. Lehigh Valley while out-shooting the Amerks 49-15. Tanner Laczynski and Alexis Gendron both had a pair of goals in that contest.
Friday, January 19, 2024 (7:00 p.m.)
and
Saturday, January 20, 2024 (7:00 p.m.)
Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, Cleveland, OH
Phantoms at Cleveland Monsters
Cleveland (23-10-2) is in first place in the North Division but dropped two straight last week in a 5-4 loss at Utica followed by a 3-2 shootout loss at Syracuse. Leading scorer Trey Fix-Wolansky (12-21-33) is one of three Cleveland players who will take the trip to San Jose for the AHL All-str Classic along with head coach Trent Vogelhuber. Defenseman Jake Christensen (6-18-24) and goaltender Jet Greaves (17-5-1, 2.75, .91) are also All-Star bound. Cleveland is sixth in the AHL and third in the Eastern Conference at 3.4 goals per game. The AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets bested the Phantoms on Opening Night at PPL Center in a 5-2 decision on October 14 on a four-point effort (2G, 2A) by the undersized speedster, Fix-Wolansky, and a pair of goals by 2017 sixth-rounder from Ohio Carson Meyer.
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Cooper Marody 9-23-32
Samu Tuomaala 11-18-29
Tanner Laczynski 8-18-26
Olle Lycksell 15-11-26
Ronnie Attard 6-11-17
Phantoms Tickets are available HERE
UPCOMING
Wednesday, January 17 (7:05) – Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Rochester Americans
Friday, January 19 (7:00) – Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Cleveland Monsters
Saturday, January 20 (7:00) – Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Cleveland Monsters
Friday, January 26 (7:05) – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at Lehigh Valley
Saturday, January 27 (7:05) – Toronto at Lehigh Valley – Racing Night. Youth Winter Hat Night from Reilly Children’s Hospital at Lehigh Valley Health Netowrk
