Phantoms get reinforcements in time to face top teams
With the Philadelphia Flyers winning three of four games on their road trip that started on Oct. 30, the suddenly red-hot team returned home to face the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night.
That allowed the parent club of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to send back goalie Alex Lyon and forward Tyrell Goulbourne for tonight’s important contest at Allentown’s PPL Center against the high-scoring Springfield Thunderbirds.
The Flyers recalled Lyon on Nov. 4 just in time to suit him up as backup for the 5-2 win in Arizona.
Goulbourne, who was recalled by the Flyers on Oct. 28 along with Nic Aube-Kubel, never got a chance to suit up for a game, but should be in the lineup this weekend as the Phantoms host Springfield 7:05 p.m. Friday at PPL Center, followed by hosting the Charlotte Checkers 7:05 p.m. Saturday. Aube-Kubel remains in Philly.
Fast pace
Phil Varone, T.J. Brennan and Greg Carey are lighting up the scoreboard for the Phantoms.
Varone leads the team with 15 points (4 goals, 11 assists), followed by defenseman T.J. Brennan with 14 (4 goals, 10 assists) and Greg Carey with 12 (5 goals, 7 assists). That puts them all at better than a point-per-game pace with Varone at 1.36, Brennan at 1.27 and Carey at 1.09.
Standing in the pack
The Phantoms (6-3-1-1) sit in sixth place in the Eastern Conference behind the AHL-leading Checkers (10-1-0) and T-birds (7-1-0-2), who are in third place in the conference.
The defending Atlantic Division champion Phantoms are in fourth place in the division, one point behind Bridgeport, and one point ahead of the rival WilkesBarre/Scranton Penguins and the Hershey Bears.
After pulling out a 3-2 overtime win against Binghamton last Saturday, the Phantoms started off their four-game homestand on a high note.
In addition to playing Springfield and Charlotte this weekend, the Phantoms will host Charlotte again on Wednesday night before going on the road for games at Providence and Springfield the following weekend. They return home on Black Friday, Nov. 23, to take on Hershey, and then host Providence the next day.
T-bird trouble
The last time the Phantoms and Springfield met at PPL Center, the T-birds spanked Lehigh Valley 7-0 in a game that looked like the Phantoms were skating in quicksand. They responded the following night with a 5-4 shootout win, with Anthony Stolarz getting his first AHL win in more than 18 months due to various injuries.
Varone, who leads the Phantoms with 11 assists, said that first game didn’t feel like a 7-0 loss, and the team proved following evening.
That loss, though, was nightmarish for all the wrong reasons, including giving up five powerplay goals, the most-ever since the team moved to Allentown, and the most for the franchise since they were the Philadelphia Phantoms and gave up seven to Hershey on Nov. 19, 2006.
It was also one of the worst home losses ever, and the worse since a 9-1 loss to Providence on Jan 21, 2017, and an 8-0 loss to Hershey on March 23, 2016.
Springfield’s 16 power-play goals lead the league, and its 29.1 percent scoring percentage with it the the advantage is second in the AHL.
Springfield is 3-1 on the road this season. Lehigh Valley is just 2-2 at home so far, but hoping to take advantage of its PPL Center dominance this weekend.
Former Flyer and Adirondack Phantom Harry Zolnierczyk leads the T-birds in scoring with four goals and eight assists for 12 points. Henrik Borgstrom, Anthony Greco and Joel Lowry all have 11 points, while Paul Thompson and Jayce Hawryluk have eight points each. Thompson leads the team with six goals, Hawryluk leads them with nine assists.
Samuel Montembeault leads the team in goal with a record of 5-0-0, a 2.00 goals against average, and a 0.943 save percentage.
It’s also Superhero night at PPL Center with appearances from lots of caped and non-caped crusaders.
Charlotte charging
The Phantoms eliminated the Checkers from the Calder Cup playoffs in five games last season, but the North Carolina team is on the prowl. They are 7-0 on the road this season, outscoring the opposition 31-15, and are currently on a five-game win streak.
Janne Kuokkanen (5 goals, 7 assists) and Andrew Poturalski (3 goals, 9 assists) lead the Checkers with 12 points each. Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic is 8-1-0 with a 2.34 goals against average and a 0.911 save percentage. Charlotte has given up a league-best 25 goals this season.
The Phantoms went 4-4-0 against the Checkers last season, 3-1 at home.
Milestone in the works
Lehigh Valley’s Chris Conner is one assist away from his 300th AHL assist. Conner, in his 14th pro season, has four goals and two assists this season for six points and is a gritty presence in front of the net.
A four-year player at Michigan Tech, Conner has played for the Dallas Stars, Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings, Phoenix Coyotes and Washington Capitals, tallying 22 goals and 28 assists in 180 career NHL games. He has played for seven AHL teams and is in his fourth season with the Phantoms.
Phantoms faithful
The Phantoms rank fourth in the AHL in attendance with a total of 30,343 over the four games so far at PPL Center, which is an average of 7,568.
Hershey leads the league with 52,207 fans over six games for an average of 8,701. San Diego is second with an average attendance of 8,322, followed by Ontario with 7,737.
Gary R. Blockus is a freelance writer.