“Wood warms a man twice”
— Country Proverb, att. Francis Kinloch (1819)
I remember my parents saying that. So, I pulled that old chestnut out the other day after Mrs. Kram ordered a cord of wood and had it dumped on my driveway. I was trying to get Kram Jr. to help stack it. He didn’t appreciate the saying–thought I had just made it up as some kind of horrible attempt at a Dad Joke. But he ended up helping and the wood got stacked, one piece at a time.
Saturday night at the PPL Center the one visit from the Comets of Utica happened, along with their now-ugly red jerseys. Would there be a hangover from Friday’s big win against the Penguins affiliate? It certainly seemed so. While play seemed lackluster early on, one cannot overlook the fact that they were playing against a team associated with the New Jersey Devils. That in and of itself begets a brand of ugly hockey. Nevertheless, the Phantoms tied the game late, saw a shot ring loudly off the post for the Comets in overtime and took it the other way for the winner. I wonder if the folks behind me who left early regret missing that?
So we stack the points. One (or hopefully two) at a time. We’ll see in April if the points warm us again. In the meantime, the Phantoms have risen to fourth place in the Atlantic Division and Ninth in the power rankings league-wide on the back of a 6-game point streak. Can they keep it going?
The hated Penguins return for a mid-week tilt, their ugly yellow hats no-doubt in tow. They rebounded nicely from their Friday loss at 7th and Hamilton to crush Rochester at home to the tune of 5-0. We’ve got two games up there in December, but following this game we won’t have to endure the chapeaux jaunes again until February, at the PPL Center.
Roster And Players
The Flyers returned home from their three-game southern road trip to notch a shoot-out win on home ice on Monday. They’ll head to Ottawa for a game tomorrow night. As of this writing, no roster moves of note since last weekend.
Lines Saturday vs Utica
43 Eklind 56 Gaucher 15 Lycksell
17 Wilson 22 Gardner 72 Gendron
10 Brown 18 Abols 27 Tuomaala
13 Furry 16 Avon 74 Wisdom
19 McDonald 7 Belpedio
37 Ginning 5 Samson
8 Gleason 3 Grans
40 Cal Petersen (32 Makiniemi)
Scratches:20 Cooper Marody 36 Sawyer Boulton 55 Xavier Bernard 57 Mason Primeau 73 Massimo Rizzo 91 Elliot Desnoyers
Records:
Overall: 5-3-2-1 (4th Place)
Home: 3-2-0-1
Away: 2-1-2
White Jerseys: 3-1
Orange Jerseys: 2-2-1
Black Jerseys: 0-0-1-1
Sunday 3/3: 0-0-0-1
Post-Game Event Day: 1-0
Fridays: 1-1-1
Saturdays: 3-2
Sundays: 0-0-0-1
Wednesdays: 1-0-1
October: 2-3-1-1
November: 3-0-1
GAME DAY!
Our first Happy Hour Wednesday game of the season! Enjoy $2 drafts of Miller or Yuengling from doors (5:45 Premier Member, 6:00 All Doors Public) until the puck drops (7:15PM or so). The promo once again said 16oz drafts but last season they switched to 12oz drafts the final two happy hour games. Watch out for that tonight, but it’s hard to complain about $2. It’s also Military Appreciation Night as we salute veterans and active duty service people this Veterans Day Week. Might we see a special warm-up jersey tonight?
Tickets are readily available and there are some nice prices and seating choices available on the secondary market. Veterans and active duty can receive up to 4 free tickets by showing ID at the box office starting at 5PM. Parking should be easy tonight.
Stats from IronPigs Media:
SCORING LEADERS
Lehigh Valley
Jacob Gaucher 6-4-10
Samu Tuomaala 4-6-10
x – Anthony Richard 4-5-9
Oscar Eklind 4-3-7
Olle Lycksell 1-6-7
W-B/Scranton
Emil Bemstrom 2-9-11
Ville Koivunen 3-6-9
x – Sam Poulin 3-6-9
Mac Hollowell 0-9-9
Tristan Broz 6-2-8
Special Teams:
Lehigh Valley – PP 28.9%, 2nd / PK 82.0%, 17th / PP vs. WBS, 3-12, 25.0%
W-B/Scranton – PP 17.4%, 17th / PK 85.7%, 10th / PP vs. LV, 3-17, 17.6%
SERIES LEADERS
Lehigh Valley
Oscar Eklind 3-0-3
Alexis Gendron 2-0-2
Jacob Gaucher 1-1-2
W-B/Scranton
x – Sam Poulin 1-3-4
Boris Katchouk 3-0-3
Emil Bemstrom 1-2-3
SEASON SERIES
10/18/24 Away – Loss – 3-4
10/19/24 Home – Loss – 0-3
11/6/24 Away – OT Loss – 1-2
11/8/24 Home – Win – 5-3
11/13/24 Home
12/21/24 Away
12/27/24 Away
1/26/25 Away
2/14/25 Away
2/16/25 Home
3/14/25 Home
3/16/25 Home
OFFICIALS
Referee Beau Halkidis (#48)
Referee Amanda Tassoni (#21)
Linesperson Patrick Dapuzzo (#57)
Linesperson John Rey (#16)
MEDIA KIT
What To Watch
- Looks like we’re alternating goalies, I’m watching for Makiniemi in net tonight. Look for Larsson for the Penguins affiliate–they guy who shut us out at home 10/19. Watch to see if we can solve him.
- Poulin is up with the big Pens, but LW Nieto (#83) joins on “conditioning.” Funny how they always seem to have an NHL player available for “conditioning” when they play the Phantoms. Watch for that dude to make some plays tonight.
- Gleason didn’t get a ton of ice time in his first game with the Phantoms on Saturday, but he did get an assist. Watch to see if he’s more involved and/or on a higher pair tonight.
Up Next
The team heads to Springfield on Friday and returns on Saturday for the Bears at the PPL Center.
See you at the arena,
@Kram207
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