Morning Men. Phantoms Strand the Islanders 4-1

Magic Number at 4 Points

April 2, 2025

Bridgeport, CT – For a second consecutive game, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms took early control and never looked back. Anthony Richard (16th) and Alexis Gendron (19th) scored in the first period of the unusual morning game at the Bridgeport Islanders en route to a 4-1 win on Wednesday.

Parker Gahagen (11-3-2) had another solid performance with 25 saves while J.R. Avon (7th) and Ethan Samson (11th) completed the scoring. Adam Ginning contributed a pair of assists for a second consecutive game.

The victory for Lehigh Valley (33-26-7) moves the team’s Magic Number down to just four points in its efforts to clinch a third consecutive berth in the Calder Cup Playoffs. With six games to go in the regular season, the Phantoms jumped ahead of Springfield for fifth place in the division but the Thunderbirds have a game scheduled for later on Wednesday as the two teams seemingly jockey for the 5 and 6 seeds.

While the School Field Trip Day game with the morning start certainly felt unusual, the game counted the same in the standings and the Phantoms quickly showed they were dialed in and ready to take on the Islanders as well as the thousands of screaming school kids supporting the home team.

At 10:35 a.m., Richard was up and at ’em and ready to give the Phantoms a truly “early lead.” He scooped up a lead from Ginning at center and zoomed past the Islanders’ defense creating his own breakaway to bury his 16th of the season past Hunter Miska at just 2:43 into the contest.

Gendron boosted the lead with 4:13 left in the third period on a nifty goal through traffic from inside the right dot. With barely any room to shoot, the 21-year-old rookie was still to flick the puck on net from between his skates and through a Bridgeport defenseman to convert to the upper-left corner past Miska for a 2-0 lead. Jett Luchanko and Garrett Wilson worked the puck to Gendron for the goal. It was Luchanko’s second pro point in three games since the 18-year-old first-rounder joined the Phantoms last week.

Gahagen made another show-stopper in the first period to preserve the margin when he pulled the splits on a Liam Foudy breakaway and dangle. Somehow, Gahagen was able to recover with his left pad to deny Foudy’s effort to curl it around the Phantoms’ netminder.

Since December 28, Gahagen has been one of the best goaltenders in the AHL going 10-2-1, 1.91, .930. In his last two games since his return to the Phantoms from…