The Phantoms went 0-3-0 this week. The skid cost them home ice in the playoffs as they concluded their season with a 37-29-3-3 record which was sixth in the Atlantic Division.
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Bobby Brink
Brink scored a goal in both Friday and Saturday’s games, which means he’s now on a six-game point streak and has five goals and 10 points in his last 11 games. Brink will finish the season with 12 goals and 28 points in 41 games after returning from hip surgery in early January. It took a bit for him to get his game back up to snuff, but the strong end to the season provides hope that he still has top prospect status and could very well challenge for a main roster spot next season.
Tyson Foerster
Foerster racked up a pair of assists in three games this week, meaning he has 12 assists in his last 16 games. Tack on an additional three goals in the meantime and he’s just shy of a point-per-game pace dating back to mid-February. He closed the campaign with 20 goals and a team-leading 48 points in 66 games. His goal scoring and overall play did leave a bit to be desired, but he stepped it up offensively down the stretch when it mattered most and was a big reason the team secured their first postseason berth since 2018.
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Olle Lycksell
Lycksell scored just a single goal this weekend. He did cool off quite a bit from his early-season dominance, but overall, he surprised everyone this season with 45 points in 53 games, which was second on the team in both points and points-per-games-played, second only to veteran Cooper Marody.
Elliot Desnoyers
Desnoyers scored a goal on Wednesday and added an assist on Saturday to bring his point total to 44 points in 65 games for his rookie season. He also set the LV Phantoms’ rookie goal scoring record with 23. It was a bit of a limp to the finish line for Desnoyers, who scored just four goals and seven points in the final 16 games of the season, but he was still one of their most important forwards
Ronnie Attard
Attard notched a goal and assist in Wednesday’s game, his only two points in the last six games. Overall, it’s been a very good season for Attard, who easily led the Phantoms in defenseman scoring with 32 points in 68 games and his two-way game grew tremendously as well, but offensive consistency was something he struggled with earlier in the season and he dried up again to close out the campaign.
Brendan Furry
The 24-year-old forward signed an AHL PTO for the remainder of this season and a two year contract starting next year earlier in April and posted three points in three games with the Phantoms. He signed out of Minnesota State after a relatively successful college career and made a good showing for himself in his test run to end the AHL season. Considering the Phantoms roster may look a bit different next season due to call ups, having some consistency in a player like Furry is a good thing.
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Sam Ersson
Ersson allowed five goals in each of the last three games of the season, all losses, as he closes the season with a 2.84 goals against average and .900 save percentage with a 24-17-1-1 record. Don’t know if he’s hurt or just flat out exhausted, but the stretch run was not kind to Ersson. The team shouldn’t have to rely on his quite as hard as they did, but going from bulletproof to very beatable was a big reason for the team’s late season struggles. He played 42 games with the Phantoms and another 12 with the Flyers, considering he played just five games last season before he underwent surgery, hopefully it’s just exhaustion and there’s no long-term concern for his level of play.
Egor Zamula
He’s still hurt. He’s been missing for three weeks now without a word from either the Flyers or Phantoms when it comes to what’s plaguing him. It’s apparently a shoulder injury, and no official diagnosis from the team would seem to suggest it’s not major, but radio silence on their top defenseman with the playoffs just days away after weeks of silence is definitely not normal.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
brotherlypuck.com 