Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
This is what it looks like when the Lehigh Valley Phantom Gang (mostly) get back together.
The Phantoms defeated the Belleville Senators 3-1 on Saturday and then won 6-1 in Toronto on Sunday. The battle with Mali ended in a 1-1 tie in the second quarter. Oliver Bunker Scored his first goal as a pro while shorthanded to give the Phantoms the lead, and they then scored four more in the third period.
Carl GrundströmAfter scoring 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in 19 games with the Phantoms, he headed to the Philadelphia Flyers where he scored seven goals in 14 games. rookie Denver BuckyHe, who posted 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) in 26 games for the Phantoms, also remains with the Flyers and is adapting well.
Those were two big losses for Lehigh Valley, but they are getting back to more reasonable form. forward Alex Bump Rejoined the lineup Saturday after missing four games. Anthony Richard Returned from playing for Team Canada in the Spengler Cup. On New Year's Eve, the Flyers made their fourth trade of the season that had an immediate impact on the Phantoms, sending away guard Yegor Zamura Pittsburgh Penguins Forward Phil Tomasinowho brings 218 games of NHL experience to Allentown.
And the goalkeeper Alexei KolosovLast week, he was named the Howies Hockey Tape/AHL Player of the Week after hitting 60 of 61 shots in two starts.
first year head coach John Snowden His club is in third place in the Atlantic Division thanks to a point-scoring streak of six games now (5-0-1-0). That run includes shootout wins over Hartford and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, as well as a Dec. 31 elimination of Hershey.
The Phantoms have also benefited from a more stable situation in Philadelphia, with their parent team sitting at 22-12-7 halfway through the schedule. With the Flyers in a good position, the hits on Lehigh Valley's roster aren't nearly as damaging as they have been in the past.
But that's not to say Philadelphia's assistant general manager Erin McCauley There is no active reinvention of the Phantom.
They brought in defenders earlier this season Max Genette, Christian Kyrou and Roman Schmidt Remodeling the Lehigh Valley Back End. The Nashville Predators acquired 2019 first-round pick Tomasino, also removing a high-scoring average from the roster of the rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Tomasino, 24, fits a clear offensive scheme for the Flyers, who have long been willing to make aggressive moves via trades and free agency. For a player who had 24 points in 61 NHL games last season, this is a typical low-risk, buy-pot strategy.
Kolosov, who turns 24 on Sunday, is coming off a tough first season between Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley in 2024-25. This season, Philly has a clear top tandem after signing Dan Vladar Replenished as a free agent Samuel Eisen. The lack of ambiguity in Kolosov's role provided him with an opportunity to focus on his development with the Phantoms, where he posted a 9-8-1 record, 2.51 GAA and .910 save percentage in the rookie rotation. Carson Bjarnason.
Now is the part of the season that really tests development and shows what a prospect really has to offer. Just seven points shy of the Atlantic Division lead, the Phantoms return to the road this weekend for a two-game trip to New England, where they will face Springfield and Providence. They currently appear to be solid candidates to join the Calder Cup playoffs in April, but they haven't made a significant run in the postseason since reaching the Eastern Conference Finals in 2018.
Philadelphia has made developing and winning at the AHL level a key part of its overall organizational rebuild. The next three-plus months in the Lehigh Valley will be a step toward those goals.
About two decades in the American Hockey League, TheAHL.com feature writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. In 2016, he received the AHL's James H. Ellery Memorial Award for outstanding coverage of the league.
