Phantoms Weekly

Happy New Year!

December 30, 2025

Allentown, PA – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (15-11-4) carry a three-game point streak (2-0-1) into their 2025 swan song on New Year’s Eve. After Wednesday’s rivalry matchup with the Hershey Bears, it’s off to Canada to open 2026 with a pair of games north of the border.

Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for upcoming games here: https://www.phantomshockey.com/media/media-materials/

LAST WEEK
Sunday, December 28 – W-B/Scranton Penguins 3 – Phantoms 4 (SO)
Monday, December 29 – Charlotte Checkers 3 – Phantoms 2 (OT)

THE WEEK AHEAD
Wednesday, December 31 (3:05) – Phantoms vs. Hershey Bears (WSH)
Saturday, January 3 (7:00) – Phantoms at Belleville Senators (OTT)
Sunday, January 4 (4:00) – Phantoms at Toronto Marlies (TOR)

WEEKLY RECAP
Sunday, December 28, 2025
W-B/Scranton Penguins 3 at Phantoms 4 (SO)
Tucker Robertson (4th) blasted home a power-play goal in the second period and later scored his third shootout goal of the season as the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (15-11-3) overcame an early 2-0 deficit to post a hard-earned 4-3 shootout win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Sunday evening. It was Lehigh Valley’s first win of the season against their Pennsylvania rivals and it was well-deserved. Lane Pederson (9th) scored for a second consecutive game and Oscar Eklind (1st) also found the back of the net while Aleksei Kolosov (26/29) backstopped the win. Rafael Harvey-Pinard (6th, 7th) led the attack for the visiting Penguins with his second multi-goal game of the season against Lehigh Valley.

Monday, December 29, 2025
Charlotte Checkers 3 at Phantoms 2 (OT)
The Phantoms never call it until the game is over. Monday night at PPL Center, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms trailed 2-0 with time running out, but amazingly, scored twice in the last 32 seconds to force overtime. Alexis Gendron’s deflection got the Phantoms on the board. Then it was Tucker Robertson, with no time to spare, wheeling behind the Charlotte net to stuff in the wrap-around with just 1.7 seconds remaining to bring the PPL Center crowd to a roar as the Phantoms had somehow, incredibly, forced overtime. They almost pulled it off in the unusual Monday night clash which was the makeup of a Saturday night postponement caused due to Charlotte Checkers travel delays. But Nolan Foote (6th) buried it in overtime for the Charlotte Checkers who won 3-2. The Phantoms were being outshot 32-7 with three minutes remaining but were still in the game due to Carson Bjarnason who was outstanding with one tremendous denial after another including several clean breakaway and odd-man chances which ultimately allowed the Phantoms to earn the valuable standings point via their last-second heroics.

SHOOTOUT SPECIALISTS – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms lead the AHL with four shootout wins and their seven total victories after regulation (including three overtime wins) also tops the circuit. Tucker Robertson is tied for the league lead with three shootout goals, all since December 13. Carson Bjarnason is tied for the league lead with three shootout wins and is also tops with 17 shootout saves on 20 attempts against. Aleksei Kolosov picked up his first shootout win yesterday. The Phantoms’ last three victories since December 13 have all been by shootout beginning with an eight-round epic at Rochester.

WORKING OVERTIME – The Phantoms have gone to overtime or shootout in three consecutive games and are second in the league with 11 OT contests trailing only Calgary (12). Six of tghe last 11 games have gone to overtime beginning with a November 29 shootout contest against Laval. The Phantoms are 3-2 in overtimes with Lane Pederson, Cooper Marody and Alex Bump also striking for winners in extra-time this year. The Phantoms are 4-2 in shootouts and a re combined 7-4 in games going past regulation.

A BEVY OF BLUELINERS – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms are currently enjoying an abundance of defensemen but the situation also comes with its fair share of challenges and the implementation of a rotation to ensure playing time for everyone. Lehigh Valley has nine healthy defensemen all on NHL contracts. Three defensmen were acquired by trade after the season began: Max Guenette (from Ottawa/Belleville), Christian Kyrou (from Dallas/Texas), and Roman Schmidt (from Tampa Bay/Syracuse). 20-year-old first-rounder Oliver Bonk also got a late start on the season making his pro debut in December after beginning the campaign on the shelf with an injury.
Five Lehigh Valley defensemen have NHL experience this season or last season including Max Guenette, Adam Ginning, Helge Grans, Ty Murchison and Egor Zamula.

THREE IS A MAGIC NUMBER – The Phantoms have gone 13-1-2 when scoring three or more goals in a game. Lehigh Valley is 10-0-1 when holding opponents to fewer than three goals in a game.

TRANSACTIONS –
12/22/25 Del Anthony Richard – Reassigned Team Canada, Spengler Cup
12/22/25 Add Carson Golder (F) – Recalled by LV from Reading
12/27/25 Add Hunter Johannes (F) – Recalled by LV from Reading
12/27/25 Add Yaniv Perets (G) – Recalled by LV from Reading
12/29/25 Del Yaniv Perets (G) – Loaned to Reading by LV
12/29/25 Add Massimo Rizzo (F) – Reassigned to LV from Reading
12/30/25 Del Hunter Johannes (F) – Loaned to Reading by LV

FUTURE PHANTOMS – Six Flyers draft picks and possible future Phantoms are currently playing on the international stage at the World Juniors Champions in Minnesota. Two of the prospects have been named captains for their respective countries with Porter Martone of Canada and Jack Berglund of Sweden both bestowed the honor of wearing the C while Heikki Ruohonen is an alternate captain for Finland.
One of Lehigh Valley’s players from last year, Jett Luchanko, is at the tournament as well representing Canada for a second consecutive season.

Flyers draft picks at 2026 World Juniors:
USA – Shane Vansaghi, Rd 2 (Michigan State)
Canada – Porter Martone, Rd 1 (Michigan State)
Canada – Jett Luchanko, Rd 1 (Brantford – OHL)
Sweden – Jack Berglund, Rd 2 (Färjestad BK – SHL)
Finland – Heikki Ruohonen, Rd 4 (Harvard)
Finland – Max Westergard, Rd 5 (Frölunda HC – SHL)

UPCOMING –
Wednesday, December 31, 2025 (3:05 p.m.)
PPL Center, Allentown, PA
Phantoms vs. Hershey Bears
Hershey (14-13-1) comes to town for the final game of 2025. The Bears have dropped three straight including a last-minute loss against Charlotte on Sunday. The fourth-place Phantoms hold a five-point advantage over fifth-place Hershey although the Bears have two games in hand. 19-year-old talent Ilya Protas (12-11-23) paces the Bears’ offense and has scored 2-4-6 against the Phantoms. He’s fifth in AHL rookie scoring. 20-year-old second-rounder Andrew Cristall (5-17-22) is second among AHL rookies in assists. In the WHL, Cristall racked up an incredible 132 points with the Spokane Chiefs and Kelowna Rockets to beat out Gavin McKenna for the league scoring crown. Former Phantom Louie Belpedio (3-11-14) along with 35-year-old captain Aaron Ness anchor the blueline. The Bears have taken four out of five in the season series with all five games going down to the wire and being decided by a single goal. Former Anaheim Duck Brett Leason (5-8-13) is back with Hershey now and he scored the winner with just 3:30 left in a 3-2 final in the last meeting on December 7 at Giant Center.

Saturday, January 3, 2026 (7:00 p.m.)
CAA Arena, Belleville, ON
Phantoms at Belleville Senators
The Phantoms head north of the border to open the 2026 portion of the schedule as they take on the North Division fifth-place Belleville Senators (13-15-5) who are coming off an impressive 7-0 thumping of Belleville last Sunday. Arthur Kaliyev (20-13-33) leads the AHL in goals and is second in points. Oskar Pettersson (8-3-11) had a hat trick in their Sunday blowout win. 20-year-old Carter Yakemchuk (3-15-18) was the #7 overall selection in the 2023 draft out of the Calgary Hitmen. Olle Lycksell (5-3-8) has split his time between Ottawa and Belleville. The immensely popular Lycksell played 134 games with the Phantoms over parts of the last three seasons scoring 52 goals while also playing in 45 games with Philadelphia. Belleville has been able to outscore its opponents sometimes but allow 3.6 goals per game which is second-worst in the league. The Phantoms topped Belleville 5-2 on Opening Night October 11 led by Devin Kaplan’s pair of first-period strikes. Interim head coach Andrew Campbell assumed the role on December 17 after David Bell was let go.

Sunday, January 4, 2026 (4:00)
Coca-Cola Coliseum
Phantoms at Toronto Marlies
Toronto (15-13-2) has been pushing through injury issues and rotating goaltenders to hang in there in the North Division race in fourth place. Veterans Logan Shaw (11-10-21) and Travis Boyd (9-11-20) are among the leaders for third-year head coach John Gruden’s crew. Shaw is in his fourth season with the Marlies and the Toronto captain brings 232 games of NHL experience to the team. Boyd began his pro career with Hershey in 2015 where he starred for three years and now the 32-year-old returns to the AHL after 299 NHL games. Former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguin Alex Nylander (7-10-17) and former Hartford Wolf Pack and Providence Bruin Vinni Lettieri ( 4-13-17) also add experienced scoring punch. The Phantoms got the better of rehabbing goaltender Joseph Woll and the Marlies 3-2 at PPL Center on November 7

Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Alex Bump 7-13-20
Lane Pederson 9-11-20
Anthony Richard 8-10-18
x – Denver Barkey 7-9-16
x – Carl Grundstrom 6-9-15
Alexis Gendron 5-9-14
Christian Kyrou 4-10-14

Atlantic Division Standings:
1. W-B/Scranton 22-7-3 = 47
2. Providence 21-5-1 = 43
3. Charlotte 17-9-2 = 36
4. Lehigh Valley 15-11-4 = 34
5. Hershey 14-13-1 = 29
6. Springfield 10-12-6 = 26
6. Bridgeport 11-14-3 = 25
8. Hartford 10-13-5 = 23

LOOKING AHEAD – Wednesday, December 31 at 3:05 p.m. we will be Glowing Into 2026 with Family-Friendly daytime New Year’s Eve fun as the Phantoms take on the Hershey Bears to close out 2025.

The Phantoms have four straight on the road to open 2026 beginning Saturday and Sunday at Belleville and Toronto. The Phantoms next play at PPL Center January 16 and 17 with back-to-back games against the Bridgeport Islanders and Syracuse Crunch.

The post Phantoms Weekly appeared first on Lehigh Valley Phantoms.