The Phantoms went 1-0-1 this weekend, which brings their record on the season to 15-13-5-1. They remain seventh in the Atlantic Division with 34 points.
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Samu Tuomaala
Tuomaala posted two goals, one of them the overtime winner, on Saturday. The 21-year-old rookie is up to and 27 points in 33 games on the season, second only to Cooper Marody (29 points) for the team lead. He only has those two goals in his last six games, which reflects more on the team’s general disarray over the last few weeks than it does Tuomaala himself, but it was nice to see him break out of his slump in an important way on Saturday.
Ronnie Attard
Attard scored the game-tying goal on Saturday midway through the third period. He now has 14 points in his last 19 games and has been a fairly consistent player dating back to the middle of November after a rough start to the season. Keeping up this level of output for the next few months before the trade deadline should finally punch his ticket to the Flyers, who desperately need an offensive defenseman on the main roster.
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J.R. Avon
Avon picked up an assist on Saturday. He’s up to 11 points in 27 games on the season, but his recent play continues to be much better than the stat line shows. Much like Gendron, the opportunities aren’t plentiful but Avon has made the most of his rookie campaign as one of the team’s only real depth scorers.
Olle Lycksell
Lycksell is on an 11-game goalless drought, which matches a career worst for the sophomore forward. He does have six assists in that time (including one on Saturday) and still has 22 points in 28 games on the year, but it’s pretty clear his multi-week stretch of time in the press box with the Flyers, which Tortorella called a “reward” has not had a positive effect on Lycksell at all.
Emil Andrae
Andrae had the secondary assist on the second Phantoms goal on Sunday. It was his first point in four games, which was the longest pointless drought in his AHL career to date. He’s tied for sixth in scoring on the Phantoms’ roster with 16 points in 24 games.
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Alexis Gendron
Gendron was demoted back to his junior team in the QMJHL after 17 AHL games where he posted seven points, just days after his 20th birthday. The offensive flashes from Gendron were promising, but he was playing every other day primarily on the fourth line. Considering there’s no movement from guys like Lycksell to the main roster to open AHL minutes, the organization felt it better than Gendron gets re-assigned and returns to the AHL next season with a bigger role open. It’s too bad, because it wasn’t Gendron’s fault, he’s just the latest example of overcrowding hurting development.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
brotherlypuck.com 