Farm Report: Phantoms Surge Through November

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have completed the November portion of their 2023-24 schedule by rattling off a six-game point streak (5-0-1) to move up to third place in the Atlantic Division. The Phantoms are currently six points behind the Hartford Wolf Pack for second place.

As noted in last week's Prospect Pipeline podcast, the Phantoms managed an impressive sweep of a three-game road trip to Canada to play North Division teams Laval (3-2 win), Belleville (8-1 blowout victory) and the Toronto Marlies (2-1 win in a game nationally game.

Since Thanksgiving, the Phantoms have continued to roll. They had to settle for one point from a 2-1 overtime home loss to the Providence Bruins on Friday before defeating a very good Rochester Americans team, 5-4, at the PPL Center the next night.

On Friday, the Phantoms dominated long stretches of the game against Providence -- especially in a lopsided first period -- but "got goalied" by P-Bruins goalie Brandon Bussi in a specactular performance.

A seeing-eye power play goal by Providence's Jayson Megna late in the first period stood as the game's only goal through 54 minutes of regulation. Finally, at 14:12 of third period, Phantoms leading scorer Olle Lycksell (12th goal of the season) knotted the score with a persistent effort near the net. The assists went to Samu Tuomaala and Tanner Laczynski. Through regulation, shots on goal were 41-27 in the Phantoms' favor (16-5 in the first period alone).

In overtime, the P-Bruins benefitted from a non-call on a blatant penalty in the Lehigh Valley end. The play resulted in a prime scoring chance for Providence and a desperation slashing penalty taken by Victor Mete. The P-Bruins cashed in on ensuing 4-on-3 power play as Fabian Lysell ended the game.

On Friday, both Elliot Desnoyers (upper-body injury) and Emil Andrae (illness) returned to the Phantoms' lineup. Meanwhile, Wade Allison played arguably his best game of the 2023-24 season to date but was robbed on no fewer than three occasions by Bussi on 10-bell saves.

For sheer entertainment value, Saturday's game against Rochester was one of the best the Phantoms have played so far this season. From a territorial standpoint, the Phantoms dominated against a very good opponent.

The Phantoms massively outshot (49-15) and outchanced the Americans but trailed by scores of 1-0 entering the second period and 4-3 within the third period. Finally, the Phantoms forged ahead to stay and held Rochester to just three shots on goal in the third period.

Saturday's game was a bonanza for both the Phantoms (3-for-5) and Rochester (2-for-4) powerplays. It was an even better night for Phantoms rookies and second-year players.

Nineteen-year-old Alexis Gendron returned to the lineup on Saturday for his ninth game of season. He celebrated it with his third and fourth professional hockey goals including a game-winning power play tally at 11:52 of the third period. On the winning goal, after the Phantoms won an offensive left circle faceoff, the Americans forgot about Gendron. The rookie skated right down slot, took a pass from Ronnie Attard and buried the puck in the back of the net to establish a 5-4 lead the Phantoms never relinquished.

Saturday's game was another stellar night for Phantoms rookie Samu Tuomaala as he registered his third three-point game of the season. On this night, Tuomaala hammered home a power play one-timer from the right slot off a feed from Cooper Marody. The goal gave the Phantoms a very short-lived 2-1 lead (Rochester scored on the next shift) in the second period. Later, Tuomaala set up a pair of goals for regular linemate Tanner Laczynski: one at even strength for a 3-2 lead in the second period and then a third-period goal to tie the game at 4-4.

Laczynski now has six goals and 17 points in 16 games played this season. Tuomaala, who is fourth in rookie scoring leaguewide, is up to 17 points (4g, 13a) in 18 games.

In total, nine different Phantoms players recorded at least one point in Saturday's game. Olle Lycksell racked up seven shots on goal and chipped in two assists. Wade Allison, had four shots on goal and an assist. Rookie defenseman Emil Andrae made several high-skill passes during the game and got on the scoresheet with the secondary helper on the first Laczynski goal. Marody's feathery pass that set up Tuomaala's one-timer goal was his 10th assist of the season.

Saturday night wasn't one for the goalies. Making his third start (and playing past the first period for just the second time) this season, Felix Sandstrom stopped 11 of 15 shots. Veteran goalie Dustin Tokarski, an ex-Phantom, was bombarded with 49 shots. He stopped 44.

Next weekend, the Phantoms face a 3-on-3 gauntlet, with road games against the Hartford Wolf Pack on Friday and Saturday and then a Sunday afternoon (3:05 pm) road match in Providence.

CHL, NCAA, and European Hockey Standouts of the Week

Thanksgiving week and weekend was jam-packed with collegiate hockey games across the United States, along with the typical slate of major junior matches across the Canadian Hockey League (Ontario Hockey League, Western Hockey and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) and the various circuits across Europe. Here are some of the standouts of this past week:

Cutter Gauthier (C, Boston College, NCAA):  Coming off a two-game sweep against UConn last weekend, the BC Eagles defeated Notre Dame (featuring freshman Flyers prospect Cole Knuble) by a 6-1 score in a late afternoon game on Black Friday and then followed up on Saturday with a 4-1 road win over Harvard. In South Bend, Gauthier collected a pair of assists. Against Harvard, the Flyers' 2022 first-round pick scored a pair of goals. He now has 12 goals and 18 points in 14 regular season games played while centering BC's second line at 5-on-5 and regularly playing on the top power play unit.

Devin Kaplan (RW, Boston University, NCAA): Sophomore power forward Kaplan has produced 10 points (3g, 7a) through the season's first 14 games, while playing his typical brand of straightforward north-south hockey with a physical edge to his game. BU captured a 3-2 win over Quinnipiac the day before Thanksgiving but sustained a 2-1 loss at Madison Square Garden against Cornell on Saturday. Kaplan earned a primary assist on the first of two goals scored by Ryan Greene in the Quinnipiac game.

Massimo Rizzo (C, Denver University, NCAA): One of the top playmaking forwards across the entire NCAA this season, Rizzo (19 assists among his 25 points in 14 games) is part of a deadly top-line duo with right winger Jack Devine (13 goals, 24 points). This past weekend, the Pioneers hammered an overmatch Yale Bulldogs squad on consecutive days by scores of 5-0 and 9-0. In Friday's game, Rizzo set up a power play goal for Devine. On Saturday, Rizzo shredded Yale in a four-point (1g, 3a) outburst. For Rizzo's take on Saturday's game, click here.

Denver Barkey (RW, London Knights, OHL): It's been feast or famine the past 10 days -- after a scorching hot streak before that -- for both the London Knights and Barkey individually. He lit up the scoresheet for much of November before a spell of going without a point in three of four games (but enjoying a three-assist feast against North Bay on U.S. Thanksgiving). On Black Friday, the Knights suffered an ugly 9-2 road loss to the Sudbury Wolves. The next day, London rebounded with a 9-3 road blowout win over the Barrie Colts in which Barkey collected a pair of assists. For the season, the speedy draft-plus-one forward has 13 goals. 20 assists, and 33 points in 24 games played.

Oliver Bonk (D, London Knights, OHL): Bonk has recently been deployed in the bumper for London's first power play unit. He's responded with his first five goals (all power play tallies) of the 2023-24 season, putting a goal drought that ended back to February of last year into the rearview mirror. For the season, the two-way defenseman has notched 25 points (five goals, 20 assists) in 24 games for the Knights. He had an especially strong all-around game against Barrie although there were some individual ups and downs -- as with most of the team -- in recent losses to Flint, Erie and Sudbury.

Carter Sotheran (D, Portland Winterhawks, WHL): Portland has had had some recent uneven performances of their own despite a solid 15-7-1 overall record. Last week, draft-plus-one defenseman Sotheran contributed a two-goal performance and strong two-way game against the Everett Silvertips. This past week, his biggest standout game came on Saturday in a 5-4 overtime home win against the Saskatoon Blades. Sotheran blocked three shots, had five shots on goal of his own. On the opening shift of the second period, Sotheran pinched down to the right circle and put a shot on net that produced a tap-in rebound goal for teammate Gabe Klassen. For the season, Sotheran has 12 points (5g, 7a) and a traditional plus-11 rating in 21 games.

Matvei Michkov (RW, HC Sochi, KHL): The 18-year-old wunderkind continues to display elite-caliber hockey sense and puck skills for a below-average HC Sochii club. He collected a pair of assists against Amur in his most recent game. For the season since being loaned to HC Sochi from SKA St. Petersburg, Michkov has posted 26 points (11g, 15a) in 26 games for Sochi: a strong rate of production for any player in the generally lower-scoring KHL, and an exceptionally good pace for a teenage player in that circuit.

Alex Ciernik (LW, Västerviks IK, Allsvenskan): The speedy 19-year-old Slovakian-born forward has fared quite well overall against adult pros in Sweden's highest minor league. An exceptionally slick puckhandler and above-average skater, Ciernik in third on the team in scoring with 11 points (4g, 7a) to date while dressing in 18 of the 20 games the team has played to date.