Saturday, October 21 at 7:00 p.m – XL Center, Hartford, MA
Lehigh Valley (2-1-0) at Hartford (3-0-0)
TONIGHT
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms continue their busy weekend with a Saturday night clash at the undefeated Hartford Wolf Pack, AHL affiliate of the New York Rangers. Both teams are coming off impressive wins last night. Tonight is the first of six meetings this season between the Phantoms and the Wolf Pack although many of the players already became acquainted with each other in September during the NHL Rookie Series pitting the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers at PPL Center.
LAST TIME
Olle Lycksell’s first career hat trick led a 5-2 victory at the Springfield Thunderbirds in Lehigh Valley’s first away game and first divisional contest of the 2023-24 season. Alexis Gendron scored for a second consecutive game and Garrett Wilson scored his first goal of the season. Also strong were Elliot Desnoyers, Tanner Laczynski and Samu Tuomaala who all recorded two assists apiece. Cal Petersen notched his first win with the Phantoms in a 30-save performance.
HOT IN HARTFORD
The Hartford Wolf Pack (3-0-0) are off and running with an undefeated start including a 5-0 blowout win in their home opener on Friday taking down the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. It is the team’s best start since the 2019-20 season.
Louie Domingue had 35 saves in the shutout. The Pack sit at 999 wins in franchise history and the Phantoms are hoping to prevent them from celebrating their 1,000th tonight. Captain Jonny Brodzinski (3-1-4) is back after leading the team in scoring last season (21-27-48). First-rounder Brennan Othmann impressed in his official pro debut last week with a pair of goals in Friday’s opener at Providence. The two teams will meet again next Sunday, October 29 in Allentown.
PHANTOMS NOTES
- Olle Lycksell recorded the 17th hat trick in Lehigh Valley history on Friday at Springfield. It was the first away hattie since Tanner Laczynski against the Binghamton Devils in Newark on March 26, 2021
- All three Phantoms games this season have been decided by a score of 5-2. The Phantoms have fallen behind 2-0 in the first period in all three of their games
- Lehigh Valley has a power-play goal in each of its three games this season
- Alexis Gendron becomes the second Lehigh Valley player to score a goal in each of his first two pro games joining Elliot Desnoyers who scored in three straight games to open the 2022-23 season
- Cooper Marody (2-2-4) has a three-game point streak
- Tanner Laczynski has consecutive games with multiple points and has scored 1-4-5 in the last two games
- Lycksell and Gendron scored 10 seconds apart at Springfield. The Lehigh Valley records was just six seconds apart by Mark Zengerle and Danick Martel scored just six seconds apart on Feb 8, 2017.
Lycksell and Gendron’s consecutive goals were the fastest for Lehigh Valley since Dec 1, 2018 when Taylor Leier and Chris Conner scored nine seconds apart at Belleville.
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
2023-24 Phantoms Roster CLICK HERE
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Tanner Laczynski 1-4-5
Cooper Marody 2-2-4
Olle Lycksell 3-0-3
Samu Tuomaala 1-2-3
Alexis Gendron 2-0-2
Hartford Scoring Leaders
Jonny Brodzinski 3-1-4
Brennan Othmann 2-1-3
Mac Hollowell 0-3-3
Alex Belizile 1-1-2
Brett Berard 1-1-2
UP NEXT –
The Phantoms return to PPL Center on Sunday at 3:05 p.m. with a rematch against the Springfield Thunderbirds. Fans are encouraged to dress in costume for the Phantoms “Haunted on Hamilton” Halloween celebration including Trick or Treat on the concourse throughout the game and a costume parade on the ice at the intermission.
UPCOMING –
Saturday, October 21 (7:05) – Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Hartford Wolf Pack
Sunday, October 22 (5:05) – Springfield Thunderbirds at Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Saturday, October 28 (7:00) – Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Hershey Bears
Sunday, October 29 (5:05) – Hartford Wolf Pack at Lehigh Valley Phantoms
