On The Road Again
Our first road game of the season brought our first win of the season last week. The Phantoms took care of Hartford 4-1 at the former home of the Whalers.
Jett Luchanko has started to come into his own as a pro in the second game of the trip, a 6-3 win at Springfield. Bump came into his own in the third game, an overtime win in Springfield to close the trip.
Phantoms have scored first in their first five games before last Saturday in Springfield
The Phantoms took six “much-needed standings points” out of six on the road last week! They’ve been off this week and the Flyers took all our players. Giddyup.
Phantoms By The Numbers
Overall: 3-2-1
Place: Tied for 4th
Home: 0-2-1
Road: 3-0
October: 3-2-1
Fridays: 1-0
Saturdays: 1-1-1
Sundays: 0-1
Wednesdays: 1-0
White Jerseys: 3-2-1
Throwback Jerseys:
Special Teams Report
It’s still early, but the Power Play is currently in the middle of the pack. As is the Penalty Kill.
While we’re looking at it: Syracuse has a poor Penalty Kill and a middling Power Play.
Transactions And Team Resources
- D Cooper Wylie recalled from ECHL Reading
- D Oliver Bonk called up to Flyers
- F Jack Studnicka called up to Flyers
- F Carl Grundstrom loaned to Phantoms from Flyers
- LW Carson Bantle signed to PTO for Phantoms
- D Helge Grans and F Jack Studnicka returned to the Phantoms from the Flyers
- D Hunter McDonald, F Alex Bump, F Cole Knuble and F Jacob Gaucher all called up the the Flyers
Discussion: We thought Bonk played a tremendous game last Saturday night against Cleveland. It’s not his first rodeo in the AHL so the call-up wasn’t inappropriate. Wylie is a first-year pro after four years at St Cloud State, where he improved each season. He’s a lefty shot. Scouting reports suggest he has a high hockey IQ, responsibility in his zone and good positional awareness.
Studnicka up for Grundstrom is a bit curious. Studnicka is more of a center, perhaps. Also, Grundstrom passed through waivers prior to the season and this could be just cycling call-ups before they require waivers again. But really, it turned out it was just a place-holding move to get the hot young forwards from the Phantoms following the road trip.
From the Flyers side, York and Ristolainen are possibilities tonight against Anaheim, but not likely. So that’s not solid enough for us to get players back just yet–perhaps tomorrow. F Garrett Wilson has cleared waivers, so he could be a possibility at any point in the near future. F Owen Tippett and D Cam York are currently on Injured Reserve. Foerster and Couturier had been nicked up, was also part of the slew of call-ups.
Bantle was with Grand Rapids the last two seasons. He was originally a fifth round pick by Arizona out of the University of Wisconsin. Scouting: Power forward with size, willing to play in front of the net, physical. “High hockey IQ, plays a ‘heavy’ game”
Link to our pre-season roster capsules: HERE
2026-27 Phantoms Media Guide (128 Pages): 2026-27-Lehigh-Valley-Phantoms-Media-Guide
Lines
Saturday at Springfield
12 Aston-Reese 77 Luchanko 22 Knuble
20 Bump 56 Gaucher 90 Pautov
76 Bantle 9 Thompson 10 Goyette
13 Ciernik 14 Gruden 15 Powell
19 McDonald 42 Gill
92 Edward 44 Dineen
26 Wylie 4 Murchison
35 Kolosov (64 Bjarnason)
So, yeah, three of our top six forwards and one of our two top defenders are now in Philadelphia. Those guys deserve the opportunity and we serve at the pleasure of the Flyers, but man just when the team was starting to come together following a poor couple of opening games at home.
Injuries: Information is difficult to come by, but Wisdom was nursing a puck injury, 27 Owen McLaughlin and 65 Andrew Perrott are also known to have some injuries. Not sure about Kimovich and Foote.
Crunch Time
Syracuse Crunch is the AHL affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning. They are 3-4-1 and near the bottom of the AHL North standings. They lost in overtime last night at home, to Rochester. They lost on Wednesday night this week as well, up in Laval. Phantoms with the rest advantage tonight.
As far as familiar names, F Brendan “Fuzz” Furry is on this team. F Elliot Desnoyers is a former Phantom, and a Flyers draft pick.
Sam O’Reilly is a former first-rounder from Edmonton. Lucas Mercuri, Dylan Duke, Nick Abruzzese, Jakob Pelletier, and Maxim Groshev are all considered good prospects on this team.
From Phantoms Media:
Fourth-year head coach Joel Bouchard has a solid base of players from last year’s squad including former University of Michigan sniper Dylan Duke (1-3-4) who racked up 32 goals in 2025-26 and last year’s AHL scoring champ Jacob Pelletier (1-3-4) who had 28-49-77 in 2025-26 after playing for the Flyers two seasons ago. Former Winnipeg second-rounder Jansen Harkins (1-0-1) has 306 career NHL games and spent the last two seasons with the Anaheim Ducks. Former Phantoms Brendan Furry (1-1-2) and Elliot Desnoyers (0-0-0) have found a new home in central New York. Former Belleville Senators goaltender Mads Sogaaard (2-1-0, 1.82, .925) has put up strong numbers so far.
Photo sequence by Jack Mitroka
GAME DAY!
Show time is 7:05PM for Saturday Night Hockey Live on Throwback Night. All doors at 6:00PM and Premier Members Entrances at 5:45PM.
Tickets: Good seats still remain for tonight’s game. There are some deals to be had on the secondary market, too.
Parking: Construction at the center square has traffic patterns a little sticky at 7th and Hamilton; avoid if you can. Other parking has been as per usual. Pre-purchase “orange lot” for the arena deck if you wish. Be careful not to accidentally subscribe to some subscription service if using an app. Save money and pay only $5 at the Community Deck at Sixth and Walnut. Including pre-season, Kram is 3-1 in his annual battle with the evil parking overlords.
Broadcast: Service Electric TV-2 or Flo-Hockey for the video feed. Phantoms 365 App, Web Page or WSAN 1470-AM for over-the-air.
Promotion: Expect some live music or a DJ tonight for Saturday Night Hockey Live.
Jersey Watch: Phantoms have worn the home whites for every game so far this season, home and road. It’s curious. However, they’ll debut some Philly-era thowbacks tonight. You can buy new throwback gear in the store tonight as well.
Media Kit (rosters, stats, etc.): Syracuse 102426
Officials: Referees: Patrick Hanrahan (#52), Jim Curtin (#22) Lines: Luke Pye (#42), Dominic Moore (#59)
What To Watch
- Watch for those throwback jerseys. Do you feel like you’re at the Spectrum?
- It seems like a goalie rotation, so look for Bjarnason in net tonight.
- Check the lines. We’ve got some guys to replace.
- Watch Grans if he’s in there. He’s coming back from injury and could be rusty.
- Watch to see if any additional players arrive for the game, from Philadelphia.
- Watch the defense in general. The loss of Bonk and McDonald could really hurt.
- Watch for Grundstrom. He didn’t make it into any of the games on the road trip, due to a personal issue. Hopefully everything is OK with him. He’s a nice addition if he’s available.
- Watch to see if any of the injured guys can make it back.
- Watch for #90 Pautov to have a bigger role in the offense and Power Play.
- Powell is due for another fight. Watch out for that.
- Watch Jett tonight as he’s the guy who kind of got passed over when the call-ups happened. Will he be extra motivated?
Up Next
Right back here tomorrow for the Belleville Senators who are completing a “Tour of Pennsylvania” having beaten Wilkes at their place Friday night and playing in Hershey tonight. It’s “Phan Con” for a 3PM start. Steelers play at 9:35AM and the Eagles play the Monday Night game. “Hockey Night” may be on hiatus, though.
Oh, one more thing: We had the opportunity to tour a new “media room” group area last home stand. It’s a small room behind the big ice sweet and it’s connected to some seats in 111. What’s neat about it is that they have a BUNCH of TV’s in there for watching football or March Madness or what have you.
See you at the arena,
@Kram207
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