“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”
-Michael Corleone, Godfather III
A weekend sweep at Hershey will do that for a Phantoms fan!
The Way We Were
“What’s too painful to rememberWe simply choose to forget”
The Phantoms were on an Oh-For-February run when they were dealt a scheduling oddity which had them playing back-to-back in Hershey last weekend. What could go wrong?
And, that’s why they play the games. Kolosov showed up with some goaltending. Bump has returned to form following his injury, They’re getting pucks to the net. They’re generally staying out of the box and killing a couple penalties along the way. They’re just playing some good hockey right now.
Snow notwithstanding the losing had me headed into baseball mode early. But I’m back in. No delusions of grand playoff runs, but still up for some good hockey down the stretch here. And overall, some questions to be asked about how the Flyers will handle the trade deadline and playoff eligibility for the Phantoms.
Records and Standings
Record: 23-22-2-2
Standings: Back to 5th place
Home: 11-11-1-1
Away: 12-11-1-1
Recent: Won 2 in a row, 4-6 last 10
Overtime: 4-2
Shootout: 4-2
Friday: 5-9
Saturday: 14-4-0-2
Sunday: 2-5-1
[Sunday 3/3: 0-2-1]
Monday:.0-1-1
Wednesday: 3-3
October: 5-3-0-1
November: 5-3-1-1
December: 5-5-1
January: 5-6
February: 2-5
White “Road” Jerseys: 9-4-1-1
Black with Orange “Alternate” Jerseys: 6-6-1-1
Orange “Home” Jerseys: 5-6
“Black-Out” Jerseys: 0-2
“Faux-Back” Keystone Black: 2-2
Charcoal Gray “Forgotten Preseason”: 1-1
“Orange Out” 2026: 0-1
Post-Game Fan Event Game: 2-1
Transactions
With the NHL on pause for the Olympics, and the week off for the Phantoms, several players have been cycled to the Flyers to practice with the big team. You might want to be critical of this team not working on things they need to be working on, but they won both games last weekend so it’s hard to complain. Plus, it might light a fire or re-direct some fundamentals that needed to get corrected anyway.
It appears that Kolosov is back with the Phantoms, while Ginning remains with the Flyers. All the other players who made it to Philly (or, Voorhees) have returned. Golder, Perets, Sevigny and Rizzo are all back with Reading. This could signal, first, that Rizzo is healthy and ready to get some ice time. Also, some other players could be getting healthy who were perhaps unavailable recently.
Lines Saturday in Hershey
21 Bump 25 Pederson 22 Robertson
72 Gendron 56 Gaucher 26 Tomasino
90 Richard 23 Dorwart 20 Marody
17 Wilson 74 Wisdom 12 Kaplan
19 McDonald 59 Bonk
15 Kyrou 82 Guenette
3 Grans 76 Schmidt
64 Bjarnason (Backup: 1 Perets)
Thoughts: Each line has at least one “finisher”–even if you combine the scrappy Wisdom and Kaplan into one finisher. We like Tomasino on the wing better than at center, and having him with Gendy/Gauch is a pretty good spot. As much as possible there is a need to find some blue-line pairs and stick with them if they’re working. Not sure this is it because they gave up four goals on Saturday, but Schmidt for Ginning is the only change from the previous night with only one goal. But, Schmidt was a minus-2 so perhaps that’s something to watch. Oh, and Guenette and Kyrou were a combined +5, so let’s keep them together, eh?
Enter Providence
Since the start of the season, Providence has been at or near the tops in the AHL Atlantic. While they’ve been playing good hockey, no doubt, remember that as the Pennsylvania teams have to play each other an inordinate amount of times, Providence gets the same treatment with Hartford, Bridgeport and Springfield–mostly near the bottom of the standings. Imagine how good Hershey would look if the Phantoms and Penguins were both cellar-dwellers in the same season. Providence is good, no doubt. But they do get some scheduling advantages.
The Bruins affiliate is currently sitting in first place with 77 points–27 more than the Phantoms. Indeed the Bruins have won both meetings with the Phantoms thus far this season, taking games 4-2 and 3-2 up in Providence. As you would expect, both special teams units for the Bruins are near the top of the rankings in the entire league.
There are some familiar AHL names on their roster, but no old friends were spotted. Here’s what Phantoms Media put our on the Providence Bruins:
“Providence (38-10-1) was dominating a racked up a franchise-record 13 consecutive wins to blow past the rest of the pack in the Atlantic. But the weekend ended on a sour note as their win streak was snapped at seventh-place Springfield on Saturday and then they stumbled again in an uninspired 5-2 loss at last-place Hartford on Sunday. Patrick Brown (15-30-45) is the veteran captain of the Bruins who also served as the captain for the Eastern Conference at the AHL All-Star Classic. The 33-year-old veteran leader also played two seasons for the Philadelphia Flyers from 2021-23 and has a pair of goals against the Phantoms in the season series. Rookie Dans Locmelis (13-15-28) represented Latvia at the Olympics. Michael DiPietro (22-6-0, 1.76, .938) is the top goaltender in the league and is the front-runner to win the Baz Bastien award for a second consecutive season. Providence is second in the AHL in team defense at 2.04 goals per game and is also second best on the penalty kill at 85.4%. Providence won the first two rounds of the series in Rhode Island. This is the first PPL Center visit for the Bruins.”
GAME DAY!
RIP Happy Hour.
Game Time: As per usual, show starts at 7:05PM with the hockey starting around 7:15PM
Doors: All doors at 6:00PM. Season Ticket entrances at 5:45PM
Promotion: None
Tickets: Many good seats are still available. The secondary market has some good deals as well as mid-week games are less desirable for some season ticket holders.
Media Kit:
Officials:
Referees: Jack Young (#24), Koletrane Wilson (#18) Linesperson: John Rey (#16), Ryan Knapp (#73)
What To Watch
- It seemed like Bjarnason was going to take over as the 1A netminder there for a minute, but with his recent strong play and time in Philly, we’re looking for Kolosov in net tonight.
- Watch the D pairs. Do they look similar to above?
- Watch the special teams. Can the Phantoms at least reach a stale-mate with the Bruins top units?
- Watch to see of the Phantoms can stay out of the box and keep the need for our PK unit to a minimum.
- Watch to see which team has the better jump. The Bruins had a losing weekend for the first time in forever, while the Phantoms had an historic sweep in chocolatetown. Who looks more motivated?
- Watch Bump. Looks like he’s returning to form and should be a real weapon for us as long as he’s (a) healthy and (b) here.
- Watch Tomasino. We’ve been unimpressed with his game thus far here in Allentown. However, he was dropped onto a new team in the middle of the season and perhaps somewhat mis-cast as a center. See if he can finish one tonight if he’s playing on the wing.
Up Next
We’re home for the weekend as we welcome in the month of March. Hartford is in town to do the residency. Saturday night will be the always entertaining Saturday Night Hockey Live, while Sunday afternoon will be meLVin’s annual birthday celebration, with all his mascot friends.
See you at the arena,
@Kram207
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