The Phantoms went 2-1-0 this weekend, bringing their record to 35-26-3-3 on the season and sit fifth place in the Atlantic division. They are on the cusp of their first playoff berth since 2017-18.
Trending Up
Emil Andrae
Emil Andrae played his first two home games this weekend after two contests to open his AHL career on the road last weekend. He’s got a goal and four points in five games and is already showing flashes of brilliance. He’s the QB of PP1, aggressive physically, and is a strong skater. There have been a few defensive hiccups as you’d expect from anyone transitioning to North American ice, but he’s certainly overall lived up to the early high expectations.
Tyson Foerster
Foerster has been on a tear since he was sent down from his short NHL stint. He had a goal and three assists this weekend and three goals and 11 points dating back 11 games since February 22. If you keep up with the stock reports all season long, you know we’ve wanted to see Foerster take his game to the next level, well he’s finally there. Getting a taste of the NHL action may have done the trick to flip that switch.
Bobby Brink
Brink scored two goals on Friday and tacked on an assist on Sunday not to mention just about fought (it was called roughing) Corey Andonovski, who’s listed as six inches and 30 pounds heavier than he is. The offensive production is still hit or miss with 23 points in 36 games and just four goals in over 20 games dating back to early February, but the work ethic and general energy Brink supplies is still readily available more often than not.
Sideways Trending
Ronnie Attard
Attard registered an assist on Friday night, his lone point of the weekend. Overall, the trend is still on the up-and-up for Attard despite a quiet three games. He’s got 11 goals and 30 points in 64 games this season, good enough for seventh on the team in both categories and easily the top scoring defenseman on the roster.
Elliot Desnoyers
Desnoyers has just one goal and one assist in the eight games since he was returned from his NHL recall. Some players, like Foerster, take their game to another level after their recall, but for others it just seems to throw off whatever chemistry the had on the ice. He’s still arguably their most important skater on the team, but the noticeably lacking offense takes center stage when the team take a few big losses trying to secure a playoff spot.
Sam Ersson
Back on February 11, Ersson registered his first AHL shutout. He has recorded a save percentage greater than .900 in just three of the 11 games since, allowing three or more goals in seven of those games. He’s still the backbone of the Phantoms and things always get worse when he’s not in net, but his play has noticeably slipped from the near bulletproof run he was on from Thanksgiving to New Years.
Trending Down
Egor Zamula
Egor Zamula sustained a shoulder injury during Friday’s game. While no official diagnosis from the team has been given as of this writing, things don’t sound good from beats in the know. He seemed to finally be figuring things out and even earned his second NHL recall of the season a few weeks back, but if this injury is major it ends his season early and may even carve into the beginning of next year as well. Just an unfortunate situation from someone who as grown tremendously this season.
Olle Lycksell
Up until his NHL recall (when he spent most of that time in the press box), Lycksell was a point-per-game player in the AHL for about the first 35 games. Now, he’s scored just a single goal and four assists in the last 12 games. He did record two points on Sunday, and even took over second place on the team in scoring with 41 points in 48 games, but he has not been at the same level lately that he was earlier in the year. Like Desnoyers, something just hasn’t been the same since he was returned to the Phantoms.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
brotherlypuck.com 