Phantoms Trounce Pack 6-3
Richard Scores Twice to Pace Victory
March 1, 2026
Allentown, PA – The Phantoms offense kept it up and made it five consecutive games with four or more goals as they wrapped up their three-game homestand with a 6-3 victory over the Hartford Wolf Pack on Sunday afternoon at PPL Center. Anthony Richard (14th, 15th) led the way as he extended his point streak to five games. Oscar Eklind (4th) scored for a second consecutive game while Alex Bump (11th), Lane Pederson (18th) and Cooper Marody (7th) also converted.
But the Phantoms also required brilliance from Aleksei Kolosov (23/26). And he delivered with a perfect second period while the Phantoms were hemmed in and protecting a one-goal lead.
What a great way for the Phantoms to celebrate meLVin’s Birthday as Lehigh Valley’s loveable mascot and puck-nosed pladottle was surrounded by his mascot friends on his big day filled with zany fun.
Lehigh Valley (25-24-5) jumped ahead of the Bridgeport Islanders into fifth place in the Atlantic Division as the Orange and Black also took three out of four points in the weekend series against Hartford, The Phantoms also finished the regular-season series with a dominating 5-0-1 mark against the Baby Blueshirts.
“I thought we were committed to winning habits,” Phantoms head coach John Snoden said. “I thought our start was really good. I thought we defended the right way. I don’t think we gave a shot up for the first 8-9, minutes of the game, and we’re up 2-0. I felt there were a couple moments when they scored the two and in the second grabbed themselves back into it. And just some coverage situations that we cleaned up in-between periods and after. And after that, I thought we locked it down.”
The first period was feeling a bit too familiar for the Phantoms from the night before with Lehigh Valley racing out to a 2-0 lead against Spencer Martin only to see the Wolf Pack push their way back into it and equalize at 2-2 at the intermission.
Oscar Eklind scored at 3:32 when Zayde Wisdom slipped a pass across the crease for Eklind on the left side to bury it. The big forward now has three goals in his last four games.
Max Guenette picked off a pass and won a puck at center and then used a nifty give-and-go with LAne Pederson to rush up the right-wing boards setting up a perfect pass on the tape of the onrushing Richard to chip it home for a 2-0 lead at 7:24.
Hartford (20-26-6) clawed back into it via Anton Blidh’s (5th) deflection goal of a Brett Berard point-shot at 10:25 and Jusso Parssinen’s (6th) second goal of the weekend at 13:46 on a friendly bounce off the endboards caroming perfectly to him from the right side of the cage while Kolosov was still trying to identify where the puck went.
The first period could have been all Phantoms with a 12-4 shots advantage but Hartford’s opportunistic capabilities provided them with an even 2-2 count at the intermission.
Bump gave the Phantoms the lead again at 1:34 tipping a Christian Kyrou shot-pass from the right point finding Bump stationed on the left side of the crease. Bump would later add on assist on Pederson’s goal in the third period.
“I think he’s playing great, honestly,” Pederson of the talented rookie prospect. “You know, we’ve spent a lot of the year together, and it’s really nice having him back out there. I think that’s an area of his game that he’s, you know, developed this year, from the start of the year to now, getting in around the net more and going to the dirty areas. And, obviously, he got rewarded tonight. And then on the power play being around the net and the puck squirts loose, and we get one. So a lot of that’s a credit to Bumper.”
After that, the Wolf Pack dominated and were blasting away. Hunter McDonald blocked a shot and continued to battle while Hartford was still buzzing. And Kolosov came up with numerous remarkable point-blank denials to preserve the one-goal margin. The Phantoms defense in front of him held on as well.
“I think overall we played strong defensively,” Anthony Richard said. “In the second, when we got stuck in our zone for almost like five minutes straight, just them like shooting pucks from everywhere. I think we stayed calm and composed, and we stuck to the plan. And we made some adjustments going into the third on how we wanted to play defensively. They made a good play on their on that third goal. But I feel like when we played like that, even if we give two or three goals, with our offense and the way we’re playing, North hockey and simple, we got guys that could score, so it’s a good win for us.”
Jacob Gaucher dug a puck away along the board at the blue line and drove deep before a snazzy backhand flick around a chasing defender to a hustling Marody down the middle who buried his blast for his second goal in his last two games as well as his third goal in his most recent four contests. Despite being outshot 13-4 in the second period, the Phantoms emerged from the second period with a 4-2 lead.
Lane Pederson got in tight to jam home a rebound on a net-front scramble for his team-leading 18th of the year at 6:53 into the third to make it 5-2 on his power-play goal with Alex Bump digging at the net-front to keep the puck alive and prevent Spencer Martin from getting a cover and a whistle. Bonk’s assist on the play extended his own point streak to five games (2-3-5).
Brennan Othmann on a top-shelf snipe from the left dot off a cross-ice feed by Trey Fix Wolanski just 1:19 later to again make it a two-goal game at 5-3.
But Richard put the game realistically out of reach at 11:40 into the third with his little flick from the right of the cage barely into the goal before Martin could rotate over to his left while Phil Tomasino’s helper on the play extended his own point streak to five (2-5-7) while Kyrou recorded his second assists of the night.
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms travel to central New York for a Tuesday matchup at the Utica Comets before returning to PPL Center for a pair of games against the Charlotte Checkers next weekend on Friday and Saturday as part of PA-250 Celebration Weekend.
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