PREVIEW: Phantoms at Belleville, Game 32

North of the Border for First Game of 2026

TONIGHT – The Lehigh Valley Phantoms (16-11-4) carried a four-game point streak (3-0-1) out of 2025 and into 2026 as they open a stretch of four straight away games with tonight’s matchup at the Belleville Senators (13-16-5), AHL affiliate of the Ottawa Senators.

The Phantoms are in fourth place in the Atlantic Division and trail Charlotte by two points for third place. The Belleville Senators are in fifth place in the North Division, hanging onto the last spot above the playoff cut linehave cranked out a ton of goals in some recent wins but have been inconsistent while also undergoing a recent coaching change. This is Game 32 of the 2025-26 season. The Phantoms won the previous matchup against Belleville 5-2 on Opening Night, October 11, at PPL Center led by Devin Kaplan’s pair of goals.

Fans can browse rosters and Media Materials for tonight’s game at www.phantomshockey.com/media/media-materials/

LAST TIME – Aleskei Kolosov posted his second career AHL shutout with a terrific 31-save game and Lane Pederson (10th, 11th) provided the offense with a pair of goals in a 3-0 win over the Hershey Bears on New Year’s Eve. Max Guenette (1st) rolled an empty-netter from the opposite blue line to comp[lete the scoring. Lehigh Valley cranked out 18 shots in the first period as Pederson scored both of his goals for an early lead. It was a stalwart defensive effort the rest of the way with key blocked shots by the blueliners and big denials by Kolosov. Ty Murchison had a massive block in the second period. Oliver Bonk made a goal-saving play late in the third after Hershey’s Louie Belpedio hit the post. Bonk got out to the left of the cage for a block in front of a mostly open net to preserve the shutout. The Phantoms extended their point streak to four at 3–0-1. Kolosov’s shutout was his second of the season along with a 35-save gem at Cleveland on October 17.

TOMASINO ARRIVES – The Philadelphia Flyers have acquired forward Phil Tomasino from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for defenseman Egor Zamula.
Tomasino, 24, was selected by the Nashville Predators in the first round (24th overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft. He has appeared in 218 career NHL games across five seasons with Nashville (2021–24) and Pittsburgh (2024–25), scoring 34-61-95. Last season with Pittsburgh, he scored 11-12-23. A native of Mississauga, Ontario, Tomasino spent the majority of this season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton recording 5-10-15 in 14 games.
Zamula, 25, was originally signed by Philadelphia as an undrafted free agent in September 2018. The 6-foot-3 left-handed defenseman spent each of his first six professional seasons with the Flyers organization, recording 41 points (8g-33a) in 168 NHL games with Philadelphia and 56 points (5g-51a) in 130 career AHL games with the Phantoms.

RICHARD RETURNS! – The Philadelphia Flyers have reassigned Anthony Richard to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and he returns to the team this weekend after playing for Team Canada at the Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland last week. Additionally, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms have loaned forward Carson Golder to the Reading Royals of the ECHL.
Richard, 29, is in his second season with the Phantoms and is also second on the team in scoring with 18 points on eight goals and 10 assists. The 29-year-old lefty shooter from Trois-Rivieres, Quebec played in 15 games with the Philadelphia Flyers last year scoring 2-4-6 while also playing in 42 games with the Phantoms scoring 17-19-36.
In his 10 seasons in the AHL, Richard has played in 548 career games with Milwaukee, Chicago, Syracuse, Laval, Providence and Lehigh Valley accumulating 169 goals with 185 assists for 384 career points. He has also played in 39 career NHL games with Nashville, Montreal, Boston and Philadelphia scoring 6-8-14.

Golder, 23, played in three games with the Phantoms last week while making his Lehigh Valley debut. The third-year pro is tops on the Reading Royals in scoring with 12-12-24 in 28 games. He has played in 27 career games in the AHL over parts of three seasons recording 2-6-8. The 6’2″ left wing out of Smithers, BC has also played in 101 career ECHL games with Norfolk and Reading scoring 45-39-74.

THREE IS A MAGIC NUMBER – The Phantoms have gone 14-1-2 when scoring three or more goals in a game. Lehigh Valley is 11-0-1 when holding opponents to fewer than three goals in a game.

BRINGING IT TO BELLEVILLE – The Phantoms head north of the border to open the 2026 portion of the schedule as they take on the North Division fifth-place Belleville Senators (13-16-5) who are coming off a 4-3 loss to first-place Laval following an impressive 7-0 thumping of Utica last Sunday. Interim head coach Andrew Campbell took over on December 17 and was previously an AHL veteran defenseman of 719 games mostly with Manchester and Toronto. Arthur Kaliyev (20-16-36) leads the AHL in goals and is second in points. Oskar Pettersson (8-3-11) had a hat trick in their Sunday blowout win. 20-year-old Carter Yakemchuk (3-15-18) was the #7 overall selection in the 2023 draft out of the Calgary Hitmen but aslo has a -21 rating on the season which is second-worst in the AHL. Olle Lycksell (5-5-10) has split his time between Ottawa and Belleville. The immensely popular Lycksell played 134 games with the Phantoms over parts of the last three seasons scoring 52 goals while also playing in 45 games with Philadelphia. Belleville has been able to outscore its opponents sometimes but allow a league-worst 3.62 goals per game. The Phantoms topped Belleville 5-2 on Opening Night October 11 led by Devin Kaplan’s pair of first-period strikes.

SCORING LEADERS
Phantoms Scoring Leaders
Lane Pederson 11-11-22
Alex Bump 7-13-20
Anthony Richard 8-10-18
x – Denver Barkey 8-8-16
x – Carl Grundstrom 6-9-15
Alexis Gendron 5-9-14
Christian Kyrou 4-10-14

Belleville Scoring Leaders
Arthur Kaliyev 20-16-36
Xavier Bourgault 11-18-29
Philippe Daoust 9-20-29
x – Stephen Halliday 1-18-19
Carter Yakemchuk 3-15-18

Special Teams PP / PK / Season Series PP
LV 19.6%, 14th / 77.9%, 28th
BEL 23.1%, 7th / 80.5%, 16th

LOOKING AHEAD – The road trip continues on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. at the Toronto Marlies.

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