Streaking Phantoms and Penguins Collide in Rivalry Clash
November 4, 2024
Allentown, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (3-3-2) enter a busy week with three games in four days from Wednesday through Saturday including a home-and-home series against the rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
The Phantoms enter the week on a two-game win streak and three-game point streak (2-0-1) following impressive road triumphs at Hershey and Springfield last week.
Lehigh Valley looks to finish a perfect three-game road trip on Wednesday at Wilkes-Barre and then returns to PPL Center for games on Friday against the Penguins and Saturday against the Utica Comets. Friday’s game features $1 Berks Hot Dogs while Saturday night includes a Postgame Skate with the Phantoms PLayers presented by NJM Insurance.
LAST WEEK
October 30 – Phantoms 2 at Hershey 1
November 2 – Phantoms 5 at Springfield 2
THE WEEK AHEAD
Wednesday, November 6 (7:05) – Phantoms at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
Friday, November 8 (7:05) – Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Phantoms
Saturday, November 9 (7:05) – Utica Comets at Phantoms
WEEKLY RECAP
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Phantoms 2 – Bears 1
Jacob Gaucher’s sharp-angle strike with 11 minutes left broke a 1-1 tie and propelled the Phantoms to a hard-earned 2-1 victory at two-time defending champion Hershey on Wednesday night in the first of 10 encounters between the rivals. Cal Petersen recorded a strong 29-save effort in his first win of the season while backstopping a penalty kill that was a perfect 5-for-5 in holding off the Bears. Helge Grans scored his first goal of the season in the first period while Lehigh Valley ended first-place Hershey’s four-game win streak and six-game point streak.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
Phantoms 5 – Thunderbirds 2
Jacob Gaucher racked up his first career hat trick and Eetu Makienimi’s 21 saves were good for his first win with the Phantoms in a fight-filled 5-2 victory in Western Mass. Anthony Richard had a goal and two assists to extend his point-streak to five games and Samu Tuomaala had a goal and an assist. Saturday night at the Fights included five different scraps beginning with Garrett Wilson’s fisticuffs against Sam Bitten just 21 seconds into the game which was one of three bouts that took place in the first eight minutes of the game.
100 WINS – Wednesday’s victory at Hershey was the 100th coaching win for Ian Laperriere making him just the fourth Phantoms coach to achieve the milestone.
Phantoms Franchise – Career Coaching Wins
John Stevens – 230 (2000-2006)
Bill Barber – 187 (1996-2000)
Scott Gordon – 186 (2015-21)
Ian Laperriere – 101 (2021- Present)
GAUCHER ALL DAY – Jacob Gaucher recorded the 21st hat trick in Lehigh Valley history and the 12th on the road. He is the 15th Lehigh Valley Phantom to record a hat trick and joins a list that includes Garrett Wilson, Cooper Marody, Tanner Laczynski, Danick Martel, Phil Varone, Nick Cousins and more.
It is the second consecutive season for the Phantoms to land a trifecta at Springfield coming just barely over a year after Olle Lycksell’s hat trick in Western Mass on October 20, 2023. Gaucher has four goals in the last two games and is tied for sixth in the league in goals. The 23-year-old from Longuiel, Quebec had eight goals with the Phantoms in his AHL rookie season last year but scored 22 goals with the Reading Royals in the ECHL in 2022-23.
Gaucher had been centering the fourth line in most Phantoms games this season was bumped up to the first line by head coach Ian Laperriere for Saturday’s game.
Gaucher’s four goals last week was tied for most in the AHL with Jonathan Lekkerimäki of the Abbotsford Canucks. Gaucher did it in only two games while Lekkerimäki had four games. Gaucher had only three shots on goal for his hat trick and is shooting at 27.3% on the season with six goals coming on just 22 shots.
PHANTASTIC
– Anthony Richard is on a five-game point streak scoring 3-4-7 in that stretch since October 25 and now leads the Phantoms in overall scoring with 4-5-9. The 28-year-old veteran from Trois-Rivieres, Quebec as amassed 309 points in 491 games in his outstanding AHL career that has included stops in Milwaukee, Chicago, Syracuse, Laval, Providence and Lehigh Valley.
– Second-year winger Samu Tuomaala has points in four of the last five games (2-3-5). Tuomaala scored 15-28-43 in 69 games while representing the Phantoms at the AHL All-Star Classic in his rookie season.
– Olle Lycksell is getting his chances but is still in search of his first goal of the season. Lycksell is tied for the league-lead with 35 shots on goal. With eight games so far, the Phantoms have played slightly fewer games than most other AHL teams. Lycksell’s 19 goals in just 38 games was tied with Cooper Marody for most on the Phantoms last year.
– The Phantoms are second in the AHL with 36.25 shots per game trailing only Coachella Valley at 36.6.
– Lehigh Valley’s power play is second in the AHL at 27.6% trailing only the ludicrous 40.5% power-play conversion rate of the Charlotte Checkers.
UPCOMING
Wednesday, November 6, 2024 (7:05)
Mohegan Arena, Wilkes-Barre, PA
Phantoms at W-B/Scranton Penguins
Friday, November 8, 2024 (7:05)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
W-B/Scranton Penguins at Phantoms
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (6-2-0) is heating up and on a three-game win streak entering this week’s home-and-home series against Lehigh Valley. The Phantoms and Penguins will actually meet three times in the next four games over an eight-day stretch including another matchup at PPL Center on Wednesday, November 13.
Tristan Jarry (3-0-0, 1.95, .937) has thrived while he is down from Pittsburgh on a conditioning loan. The 29-year-old underperformed in three games with the big club to begin the season going 1-1-0, 5.47, .836 and is back in the AHL for the first time since 2018-19 while finds his form again. Jarry has 137 wins in 260 career NHL games with the Penguins. He was a thorn in the side of the Phantoms back in his AHL days with four shutouts at PPL Center in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons.
Emil Bemstrom (2-6-8) leads the scoring as the former Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins forward of 228 career NHL games has done well in his return to the AHL. 21-year-old Rookie Ville Koivunen (2-6-8) was a Round 2 selection of Carolina who was acquired at the 2024 Trade Deadline as part of the Jake Guentzel deal.
The Phantoms are 0-2 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season including a 4-3 loss in NEPA on October 18 and a 3-0 loss in Allentown on October 19 despite outshooting the Penguins 41-17. The Penguins are 6-0-1 at PPL Center in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons and 10-1-3 overall in that span against the Phantoms but Lehigh Valley won the most important meetings via a playoff-series clinching overtime triumph on Jacob Gaucher’s goal in Game 2 of the opening round.
Saturday, November 9, 2024 (7:05)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Utica Comets at Phantoms
It’s been a rough go for Kevin Dineen’s Utica Comets who remain the only AHL team without a win so far. Utica (0-8-1) picked up a standings point against Rochester in a 3-2 loss on Saturday as rookie Seamus Casey tied the game with 1:39 left. That followed an embarrassing 8-1 shellacking against the Amerks the night prior. The Comets are tied for the worst defense in the AHL allowing 4.4 goals per game and have the second-worst offense at just 1.8 goals scored. The penalty kill at 71.4% is second-worst in the league.
Nolan Foote (3-5-8) is a former Tampa Bay first-rounder in his fifth season in the New Jersey Devils’ organization and is the son of long-time NHL’er Adam Foote. Seamus Casey (1-6-7) is a second-rounder out of the University of Michigan.
Former Phantom Max Willman (1-2-3) is in his second season with the Devils after playing for the Phantoms and Flyers for foyr seasons from 2019-23. Willman scored 9-14-23 with Utica last year and also had three NHL goals in 18 games with New Jersey. Kevin Dineen is in his fourth year at the helm. The former long-time NHL’er played four seasons for the Philadelphia Flyers and was a mainstay with the Hartford Whalers where his 587 games and 235 goals were second-most in franchise history only trailing Ron Francis.
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Anthony Richard 4-5-9
Jacob Gaucher 6-2-8
Samu Tuomaala 3-5-8
Oscar Eklind 2-3-5
Rodrigo Abols 2-2-4
UPCOMING
Wednesday, November 6 – Phantoms at W-B/Scranton Penguins
Friday, November 8 – W-B/Scranton Penguins at Phantoms – Berks $1 Hot Dogs
Saturday, November 9 – Utica Comets at Phantoms – Postgame Skate presented by NJM Insurance
Wednesday, November 13 – W-B/Scranton Penguins at Phantoms – Military Appreciation Night presented by Netizen
