They’re on a heater
Lehigh Valley has won eight of its last 11 games
There’s no question the Lehigh Valley Phantoms were on a roll heading into their two-game series at Atlantic Division rival Charlotte on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Phantoms (24–175) were on a three-game winning streak heading into Tuesday night’s game, winners of eight of their last 11 games and coming off a 3-0 win over the Bridgeport Islanders on Saturday as Sam Ersson recorded his firstever AHL shutout. He does have one this season in the NHL with the parent-club Philadelphia Flyers, who recalled him on Monday.
“It’s the time of the year when you need to play playoff hockey,” Lehigh Valley coach Ian Laperriere said after Saturday night’s shutout win. “They knew we needed those two points and what they mean in the standings.”
The Phantoms started out this week tied with Springfield for fourth place in the Atlantic Division with 53 points, just three behind third-place Charlotte (26-16-2-2), all with 26 games remaining on their schedules, so the next two games between the Phantoms and the Checkers are crucial to playoff hopes.
The Providence Bruins and Hershey Bears have been going back-andforth for the top spot in the division, with the Bruins in first place with 67 points and the Bears in second with 65 points.
Saturday’s shutout win was impressive for a variety of reasons, including the fact that left wing Olle Lycksell, the team’s leading scorer with nine goals and a whopping 25 assists for a point-a-game in 34 games, was recalled to the Flyers before Saturday’s game.
In exchange, the Flyers sent back left winger Keifer Bellows, who had a monster of a game and did everything except record a point.
He and Ersson were both recalled to the Flyers on Monday, and the Phantoms will also be without center Jordy Bellerive, who was injured in Saturday’s game and did not make the Charlotte trip, as well as Hayden Hodgson, also injured and not traveling.
With the lineup starting to fluctuate with top players being called up to the NHL, Laperriere said he is relying on his veteran leadership group to direct the team on ice. He pointed out captain Cal O’Reilly, Artem Anisimov and Garrett Wilson as the top on-ice teachers.
“It makes my job easier,” he said of the way those three players in particular work with the younger players at practice and during games. “Those kids never saw me play, so I’m just a coach in their eyes. They listen to guys that just played in the NHL, and I’m glad I have those three guys.”
Winter road work: Nothing’s ever a given, but the Phantoms are 7-0-1 on the road since the start of 2023 (14-8-2 on the season) with the only loss by shootout in Toronto on Jan. 7. With five straight road wins, the Phantoms have collected points in eight straight road games, the longest streak in the AHL.
Part of the reason for that success is the resurgence of the power play, which is now second in the AHL at 24.7%. The man-advantage has gone 8-for-19 in the last seven games. All-star Tyson Foerster leads the team in power play points with six goals and seven assists for 13 points while the recalled Lycksell is second with four goals and eight assists for 12 power play points
Attard late all-star addition: Phantoms defenseman Ronnie Attard, 23, has been chalking up the points lately to go along with his excellent defensive play, and was named an AHL All-Star literally a day before the game last week to replace an unavailable player.
He joined teammate Tyson Foerster for the All-Star festivities in Laval, Quebec, last week.
A third-round draft pick in 2019 (72nd overall), the right-handed Attard is improving daily with both his physical presence in the Phantoms zone as well as in his ability to anticipate an offensive rush.
“I’m trying to continue to work and get better every day and make a positive impact on our team to help us win,” he said. “I want to do what I can to keep pucks out of our net, and then to step up when there’s a chance to take the puck thee other way.
Playing in the AHL All-Star Classic was icing on the
cake: “It’s obviously pretty cool,” the White Lake, Michigan, native said. “I had no clue until the day before the game, and that was a great event they held up there in Laval. The atmosphere was great. They’re crazy about hockey up there. I knew a couple of the guys that I played in college with , but the other guys on our division team, like Vecchinone, it was cool to get to know them off the ice.
“You don’t know how many of those you get to go to, so it’s a special time. You just try to take it all in.”
Hot hot hot: Sure, it’s been an unseasonably warm February, and that may or may not be due to the heat generated by the Phantoms.
Rookie Bobby Brink, coming back from hip surgery in July, is on a five-game point streak, tied with Foerster and Bellows for the longest point streak of the season for the Phantoms.
Rookie Elliot Desnoyers is tied with Foesrster for the team lead in goals with 17, which is just three goals short of the rookie record of 20 set by Danick Martel in the 2015-16 season. Connor Bunnaman had 19 as a rookie in 2018-19.
The Phantoms are 17-0-4 when leading after two periods, and 20-1-1 when allowing two goals or less.
More impressive, the Phantoms are 13-3-5 in games decided by one goal.
Coming up: Saturday’s home game against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins includes a sock donation drive as part of the United Way Housing Heroes presented by PPL initiative.
The Phantoms celebrate MeLVin’s birthday on Sunday against the Hartford Wolfpack. Plenty of regional mascots will be on hand to fire up the festivities.
We’re only half way through February, but already there’s an exciting promotion coming up to kick off March.
Slap Shot Night with Dave Hanson will take place Saturday, March 4, at PPL Center when the Phantoms host the Toronto Marlies. Dave Hanson portrayed one of the fictional Hanson brothers in the 1977 hockey “hit” Slap Shot that starred Paul Newman.