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John Snowden’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms defeated the Belleville Senators. 5-2, on opening night at PPL Center. Promoted from assistant to head coach this offseason, Snowden won his official AHL head coaching debut. Saturday’s game was a good one for the team’s newcomers.
Phantoms rookies and new veteran additions
- Rookie winger Devin Kaplan celebrated his AHL debut with two goals. His tallies at 6:18 and 8:58 of the first period staked the Phantoms to a 2-0 lead. The Phantoms went on to build a 4-0 lead before halfway mark of the game.
- Making his own AHL debut, rookie center Karsen Dorwart notched an early second-period power play goal to build a 3-0 edge.
- Rookie winger Denver Barkey had the primary assist on Dorwart’s goal.
- Subsequently, rookie defenseman Ty Murchison tacked on a late empty-net goal to ice the win. Belleville cut the Lehigh Valley lead to 4-2 during a third period rally. There were some nervous moments after Xavier Bourgault scored shorthanded to narrow the gap to two goals with 14:47 left to play.
- Veteran two-way forward Lane Pederson played a strong all-around game in his Phantoms’ debut. Even apart from scoring Lehigh Valley’s fourth goal, Pederson made a positive impact.
- Alex Bump desperately needs a bounce to go his way. He has high offensive expectations and seems to be pressing. Not getting a point (three shots on goal, minus-one) in the regular season opener is not a big deal. But he didn’t score in the Rookies Series, an NHL camp scrimmage or NHL preseason games. Nikita Grebenkin outplayed Bump in both Rookie Camp and NHL Camp to beat him out for an opening night NHL roster spot. Bump is in his own head a bit right now. He needs to get his first regular season goal (he had two in his playoff debut this spring) out of the way.
- Veteran checking forward Carl Grundstrom had three shots on goal and a plus-two night in his first Phantoms game. The Flyers’ organization acquired him from San Jose last week shortly before they set the opening NHL roster.
Returning Phantoms players
- Goaltender Aleksei Kolsov had a decent camp and preseason (minus one rough outing) for the Flyers. He seems to have an improved attitude and willing to make adjustments. The Belarusian was good on opening night. He turned back 27 of 29 shots to earn the win.
- Defenseman Emil Andrae has already shown he’s a capable all-around AHLer despite his lack of size. He’s shown stretches of solid NHL play but has also been injured and inconsistent at the top level. Andrae- played a strong opener for the Phantoms including a pair of assists.
- Coming off an encouraging 2024-25 season and a generally solid Rookie and NHL camp, Alexis Gendron saw a lot of power play time on Saturday. He also garned an assist on the Dorwart goal.
- If Anthony Richard were a few inches taller, he’d have become an NHL regular. The speedy veteran AHL offesnive star made an instant impact with plays he made in the opener. He had two helpers and easily could have finished with a four-assist game.
- Neither Helge Grans nor Hunter McDonald (nor Andrae for that matter) stepped up enough to survive NHL camp to the final cutdown decisions. They weren’t poor on opening night but also didn’t make a statement to an organization that is still in dire need of third-pair help. McDonald remains too prone to taking minor penalties (two more the opener). Grans remains indecisive in situations where he’d show progress last season.
Too many penalties
It’s not just the Flyers who had a rough opening week in the discipline department. The Phantoms found themselves shorthanded seven times on opening night. The penalty kill deserves kudos for going 7-for-7. Nevertheless, the penalty trouble needs to stop sooner rather than later.
Lehigh Valley went 1-for-4 on the power play. They ended up even on the special teams tally sheet due to the shorthanded goal allowed in the third period.
Right back in action
Snowden’s team won’t have much time to celebrate their opening night win. They are back in action on Sunday. The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins pay a visit to the PPL Center. Game time is 3:05 p.m. EDT.
This spring, the Phantoms dismantled the Baby Pens in back-to-back games during the best-of-three playoff mini-series. Bump had a field day, especially in Game One. Keep an eye on the rookie to see if he continues to have the Pens’ number.
