The Phantoms return from their “Weekend at Charlie’s” (Charlotte) with one regulation loss and one regulation win and 2 of 4 standings points. Not amazing, but also not horrible given the road trip and the back-to-back games at weird times (4PM Saturday, 1PM Sunday).
Now, the team is home for five straight games through the heart of March. Overall, there are 14 games left in the regular season, with 9 of them at home plus a quick trip to Canada. All this is ahead for the new-look, post-deadline(s) Phantoms roster (see below). However, the call-ups to Philadelphia will all be playoff eligible, so that’s going to be good. What’s not going to be good? Well, there’s a lot of hockey things yet to be decided, but we currently sit in a position where we have to go play all our playoff games back down there in Charlotte, like two years ago. Nope, don’t like that at all.
During the week we fell to sixth place as Springfield gets a win and pulls ahead of us. Meanwhile, Charlotte pulled into third place so that puts us right back at 6/3 spend a week in Charlotte. Bad. Plus, with the six, it virtually locks in Hershey in the second round if it gets that far. More bad. I’ll just be out here cheering for wins and lamenting any time the standing suggest driving to Charlotte.
Records:
Overall: 29-22-5-2 (6th Place in Division)
Regulation Wins: 18
Home: 15-9-2-1
Away: 14-13-3-1
White Jerseys: 14-9-1-1
White-Out Jerseys: 1-1
Orange Jerseys: 8-7-1
Black Alternate Jerseys: 3-2-2-1
Black-Out Jerseys: 1-1-1
Black on Steel Gray Jerseys: 1-2
Fridays: 8-5-2-1
Saturdays: 11-7-2
Sundays: 1-5-0-1
Wednesdays: 7-1-1
Tuesday/Thursday: 1-4
Sunday 3/3: 0-4-0-1
Post-Game Player Event Day: 2-1
October: 2-3-1-1
November: 7-3-2
December: 4-7-1
January: 8-4-1
February: 5-3-0-1
March: 2-2
Team and Roster Notes
Reading players added for the trip to Charlotte over the NHL trading deadline:
F Matt Miller, D Xavier Bernard, F Sawyer Boulton, D Sam Sedley, F Matt Brown
F Matt Brown has since returned to Reading.
Players called up to the Flyers to replace the guys traded away:
D Emil Andrae, F Rodrigo Ābols, F Olle Lycksell
G Alexei Kolosov was loaned to the Phantoms
Trades:
LW Givani Smith comes in from Colorado
LW Nikita Grebenkin comes in from Toronto
These were NHL trades. Grebenkin is a legit NHL prospect who should make the Phantoms better down the stretch; however, the last I heard, he was stuck in Toronto awaiting a US work visa. Stay tuned.
Here’s what Phantoms Media wrote about the two new players:
The Phantoms have received forwards Nikita Grebenkin and Givani Smith via trades on Friday by the Philadelphia Flyers.
Grebenkin, 21, arrives from the Toronto Marlies in the Scott Laughton trade. The 6-2 fifth-rounder in 2022 has played most of his season with the Toronto Marlies where he has scored 9-21-30 in 39 games while also seeing action in seven NHL games with the Maple Leafs.
Smith, 27, arrives from Colorado in the Erik Johnson trade and has seen limited action this season with seven NHL games with the Colorado Avalanche and six AHL games with the Colorado Eagles. He has played 168 NHL games in parts of six seasons with Detroit, Florida, San Jose, and Colorado scoring 9-13-22. Smith has played 157 career games in the AHL where he has registered 26-27-53 including stints with Grand Rapids, Charlotte and the Colorado Eagles.
No roster moves noted at the AHL trade deadline.
Lines last Sunday in Charlotte:
16 Avon 56 Gaucher 74 Wisdom
43 Eklind 13 Furry 72 Gendron
17 Wilson 22 Gardner 90 Richard
25 Miller 91 Desnoyers 36 Boulton
19 McDonald 7 Belpedio
37 Ginning 3 Grans
55 Bernard 5 Samson
35 Kolosov (Backup: 40 Petersen)
Scratches:
8 Ben Gleason, 9 Sam Sedley, 10 Matt Brown, 20 Cooper Marody, 27 Samu Tuomaala, 29 Nikita Grebenkin, 54 Givani Smith, 73 Massimo Rizzo, 31 Parker Gahagen, 32 Eetu Makiniemi
More notes from Phantoms Media:
The Phantoms are 16-9-2 since January 1. Lehigh Valley is 17-1-1 when scoring four or more goals in a game. The Phantoms are 18-0-2 when holding their opponents to two goals or fewer.
– The Phantoms are 20-6-4 when scoring the first goal and are 15-3-1 when leading at the first intermission.
– The Phantoms have played 58 games which is tied for the most in the AHL. With just 14 games remaining in the season, Lehigh Valley enjoys a more spread out and gradual schedule of games the rest of the way.
GAME DAY!
Enter the hated Penguins. Aho and Nieto called up to Pittsburgh today. Knyzhov was traded away. Bemstrom up to Pittsburgh. They usually get good goal play from Larsson, Blomqvist and Murashov. The Penguins affiliate comes in with the second-rated power play in the country. However, they do drop to 10th as a road team. They also have a very good PK unit, ranked 4th overall and 3rd as a road squad.
It’s dollar dog night! Grab your glizzy on the cheap from doors until the first period ends. There will also be fish sandwiches available for those observing–although probably not for $1.
OFFICIALS
Referee Harrison O’Pray (#82)
Referee Chris Conway (#33)
Linesperson Jud Ritter (#34)
Linesperson J.P. Waleski (#14)
Scouting the Refs: Our first look at O’Pray here in Allentown. In fact, no notes on Conway either.
MEDIA KIT
Phantoms Media
What To Watch
- Watch for Peterson to start in net. I think we’ll see the same as last weekend with Kolosov going Sunday, unless they want to play Kolosov into the ground in an effort to keep him from thinking about how much he hates living in a luxury apartment in downtown Allentown.
- Watch who starts for the Pens. Murashov has looked really good for them.
- Watch special teams. With such high-ranked units for the Pens–although they’re down a couple key guys–it’s probably where this game is won or lost.
- Watch to see if you sense any urgency–like “playoff hockey”-type urgency.
Up Next
Right back here with the Pens again on Sunday afternoon for Kids Takeover Day. Both teams have tomorrow off, so there will be no rest advantage.
Continuing the five-game home stand, we’ll have our last regular-season Wednesday home game with Milwaukee in town. Then two next weekend with Syracuse and Providence.
See you at the arena,
@Kram207