The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (0-0-0) begin the chase for the 2025 AHL Calder Cup against a familiar opponent. In 2024, Jacob Gaucher scored the game-winning goal in overtime to eliminate the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (0-0-0) in the First Round.
This season, the Phantoms pulled a 4-7-1 record against the Penguins. However, Lehigh Valley has a few more skaters up their sleeves as reinforcement in their AHL Calder Cup journey. Nikita Grebenkin, Jett Luchanko, and Alex Bump are new weapons to combine with Gaucher, Alexis Gendron, Samu Tuomaala, Olle Lycksell, Rodrigo Ābols, and Anthony Richard.
On defense, Ty Murchison meshes with Emil Andrae, Louie Belpedio, Hunter McDonald, Ben Gleason, and Ethan Samson.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, in this best-of-three series, has the home-ice advantage. The Phantoms are 1-4-1 when the Penguins are hosting. Lehigh Valley are the underdogs. Tonight is a huge first step in dictating this series. A win allows the opportunity to advance to the next round on home ice at the PPL Center this Friday.
When: 4/23/2025; 7:05pm/ET
Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza; Wilkes-Barre, PA
Broadcast Info: FloHockey; Phantoms365 (Posted Below)
Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Lycksell is a shifty, scrappy forward, and in the AHL, he led the Phantoms in points (44P; 19G, 25A). It’ll be critical to note how the forwards mesh in the Calder Cup Playoffs with the newer forwards who arrived. Lycksell led Lehigh Valley in points against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season (6P; 1G, 5A), which wouldn’t make the top five overall in point production amongst Penguins forwards in the same season series. That’s an indication of the underdog status. In the finer print, the powerplay during the season series between these clubs went 9/40 (22.5%), which is an improvement from the regular season (17.3%).
Belpedio and McDonald are the defensive leaders. Lycksell leads the Phantoms in assists (25), and Belpedio (23) is not far behind. McDonald signed his entry-level contract with the Philadelphia Flyers last week. Of the two, only Belpedio has prior NHL experience, competing on the Flyers in 2023-2024 (12GP; 2G, 2A, +6).
Ian Laperrière started Parker Gahagen the last time Lehigh Valley took to the ice. Cal Petersen backed him up. Gahagen (12-4-3; 91.6%SV, 2.39GAA) is the probable starter for Game 1 in the Calder Cup Playoffs First Round.
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