The Phantoms concluded the regular season Saturday night in Hershey with a regulation win and rest for some veterans. Their final record on the season is 36-28-6-2, pretty solidly in fifth place. On the season, it also represents an eight-point deficit with the machine in Hershey–perhaps not a significant as one might think. In the first round of the playoffs the Hamilton Street Heroes will face off against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a best-of-three series starting on Wednesday with a game in Wilkes-Barre. The other series in this round is Springfield and Providence, while Charlotte and Hershey sit home and wait for the next round. As an aside, you have to think the AHL powers-that-be are well-satisfied with the lack of travel required here in the first round.
Game 1 is 7:05PM on Wednesday April 23 in Wilkes-Barre
Game 2 is 7:05PM on Friday April 25 here at the PPL Center
Game 3 (if needed) would be 6:05PM April 27 in Wilkes-Barre
How the playoffs stack up: If the Phantoms lose, or when they eventually lose, of course they are done and will head out to the golf course for the summer. But, if they win here in the first round, they’ll either face Hershey in a 2-2-1 format or Charlotte in a 2-3 format, depending on what happens with Springfield and Providence. Neither of those are desirable, but such is life in the AHL Atlantic. Following that, would be another 5-game series for the Atlantic Division title. Then, a 7-gamer versus the North Division Champion, And then, the Calder Cup series, another 7-game set versus the Western Conference Champions. Should we be so fortunate.
Final Record Summary
Overall: 36-28-6-2 (5th Place in Division)
Regulation Wins: 25
Home: 19-13-3-1
Away: 17-15-3-1
White Jerseys: 17-11-2-1
White-Out Jerseys: 1-2
Orange Jerseys: 8-8-1
Black Alternate Jerseys: 4-4-2-1
Black-Out Jerseys: 4-1-1
Black on Steel Gray Jerseys: 1-2
Fridays: 10-9-2-1
Saturdays: 14-8-3
Sundays: 1-6-0-1
Wednesdays: 9-1-1
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: 5-6
April: 4-2-1
The Phantoms close the season on a three-game win streak and 5-4-1 in the last 10. They also end the season as the second-most penalized team in the AHL Atlantic, which isn’t exactly desirable. Probably, some of it is the rough stuff, as this team didn’t seem as sloppy as some previous squads.
More on the records: A slow start had the team hitting it’s stride in November before injury and roster adversity cost them some ground in December. With the new year arriving, the goalie situation started to receive clarity and January and February really propelled the team into a playoff position. The trade deadline and Flyers chaos lead to an uneven March as the team re-found it’s footing with reinforcements in April.
The week days records are somewhat of a conundrum. The playoffs starting on Wednesday bodes well as this team seems to like to play a mid-week tilt–as long as it’s not a Tuesday or a Thursday. Fridays are a sort of coin-flip and if this thing goes to Sunday we are kind of screwed. BUT, Sunday games don’t often happen without a Saturday game and it’s the playoffs anyway so you can probably throw it all out. I don’t hate our chances on Wednesday, though.
There was a sudden run on the black-out jerseys lately. Perhaps they were just the easiest to prepare for all the new players. The record is best in the whites; I would wear them where we can, and continue with the black-out if the other team is wearing white.
Roster Update
As you recall:
Top prospect F Jett Luchanko joined once his juniors season concluded. He’s been in 9 games but is still finding his skates at the AHL Level.
F Alex Ciernik joined from Europe on an ATO contract, perhaps in advance of joining the Phantoms full time in the fall. He’s been in 3 games
D Ty Murchison joined from college, on an ATO also looking forward to joining the Phantoms full time in the fall. He has appeared in 4 games and scored his first goal
Fs Olle Lycksell and Rodrigo Ābols returned to the team from the Flyers on 4/9. They had maintained their AHL playoff eligibility through the NHL trade deadline.
F Nikita Grebenkin came over from the Toronto organization in the Scott Laughton trade. He’s been here for a while and is certain to appear on the prospect lists. He recently had an emergency recall to Philadelphia, but returned without playing in a game.
More recently:
G Carson Bjarnason joined from juniors. The 19-year-old Canadian was a Flyers’ second round pick in 2023. He’ll turn 20 over the summer and should join the Phantoms in the fall.
F Alex Bump joined from college at Western Michigan. He is the Flyers’ #3 prospect and will be inconsideration for both the Flyers and the Phantoms in the Fall. He’s played
D Emil Andrae returned from the Flyers once their season concluded.
Penguins Reinforcements
We aren’t the only team getting players from the NHL and elsewhere. Here are some of the adds for the Penguins affiliate:
- LW Jack Beck from ECHL Wheeling
- D David Breazeale ATO Signing
- LW Ville Koivunen from Pittsburgh: 56 points in 63 games for WBS this season, former 2nd round pick
- C Joona Koppanen from Pittsburgh; veteran Bruin and Penguin
- D Filip Král from Pittsburgh; 29 points from the blue line this season for WBS
- C Sam Poulin from Pittsburgh; veteran Pen with 43 points this season
- G Christian Stoever ATO signing will probably kill us next season
- C Vasily Ponomarev from Pittsburgh; veteran with 41 points this season
- RW Valtteri Puustinen from Pittsburgh; veteran with 35 points this season
- G Taylor Gauthier from ECHL Wheeling; net depth he shut out Cleveland the other day
- F Emil Bemström from Pittsburgh; veteran with 48 AHL points this season
- D Brent Johnson signed PTO; former 3rd round pick
- D Harrison Brunicke from Juniors; prospect, 2nd round pick
- D Sebastian Aho from Pittsburgh; veteran Islander always plays us tough
Conspicuously absent: F Rutger McGoarty who killed us this season, doesn’t appear on the roster right now, perhaps he was injured while up with Pittsburgh. Also, LW Matt Nieto who is a veteran NHLer who spent some time in WBS this season hasn’t been added and might be eligible.
The only other footnote is that Koivunen, Koppanen and Puustinen might all actually be the same person. No one knows.
Tickets
Single-game tickets for game two can be purchased HERE.
You should be able to add parking, if that’s important to you, during your purchase. Good seats still remain, but expect strong sales in the run up to the game; the earlier you purchase the more choices you’ll have. Prices seem fair, as of this writing.
If you’re not going, you should be able to watch the game on Service Electric–check the different SE Sports channels because there’s also an IronPigs game.
Playoff Gear
If you missed out on the free T-Shirts and the yard signs, you can grab some playoffs merch HERE.
Projected Lines
If this website were in charge of making the lines for game one of the playoffs it might look something like this (just a guess):
15 Lycksell – 56 Gaucher – 74 Wisdom
29 Grebenkin – 18 Abols – 72 Gendron
17 Wilson – 77 Luchanko – 90 Richard
43 Eklind – 22 Gardner – 13 Furry
19 McDonald – 7 Belpedio
6 Andrae – 3 Grans
37 Ginning – 5 Samson
31 Gahagen
Discussion: I think Wisdom earned this start with his play this season. Even though it feels like Grebenkin just got here he’s played all season and I think the Flyers still want to know more about him; he’ll be in there. Jett has been a little underwhelming, but we’re talking about a guy the Flyers kept in the NHL to start the season and if they want him in the NHL in the fall they want to see him play playoff hockey now. Plus, I’m not sure Rizzo has done enough. Debated about Smith for Eklind, and I don’t think they throw Bump in there just yet–maybe game 2 at home? Andrae gets his spot back.
Why The Phantoms Will Win
The talent on this team is at the highest level it has been, and they can score, play defense, and have a goalie (Gahagen) who is playing well. Coaches and players alike are playing for their jobs in the fall, as many in each category may be in line for NHL jobs next season. The whole Penguins system seems kind of rudderless and I’m not sure they’re prepared to play inspired hockey at this level.
Why The Phantoms Will Lose
The Phantoms talent hasn’t been together long enough, and when the game gets faster in the playoffs they’ll be a half-step too slow. The Penguins affiliate is at the strongest it has been in a while this season, and those guys have been together all season on one level or another. They’ll be able to move the puck faster and their special teams will benefit from that as well. Even if they don’t have the best goalie they always seem to have one that the Phantoms can’t solve.
See you on “Hockey Night” –at least one more time,
@Kram207
Many thanks to Jack Mitroka for the photography again this season. Below is a series I really liked from the other night:
[…] here, this column was taken to task for a section of the Playoff Preview which described how the Phantoms might lose. That section, of course, came after the section […]