The Phantoms went 1-2-0 last week, bringing their record to 27-26-5-3. They beat Springfield on Wednesday, which gave them a bit of breathing room in the standings, but dropped both games over the weekend to lose that advantage. They still hold sixth place and the final playoff seed in the Atlantic Division, but by only a single point.
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Tanner Laczynski
Laczynski had a goal and three assists in three games this week. He’s riding a five game point streak where he’s scored nine points and has 35 points in 39 games on the season. It’s a shame he missed nearly two months with an injury from late January to mid-March, because Laczynski is having a career year that would look even better if health was on his side.
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Helge Grans
Grans has had an unspectacular season on the whole during his first campaign in Lehigh Valley. But there have been performances that hint at a better player within, and Sunday’s game against the Penguins was one of them. Despite going pointless with a -1 rating, he was very active in the offensive zone and looked good in transition. It’s not much, but any sign of life from Grans can be considered a positive trend.
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Samu Tuomaala
Tuomaala hasn’t scored a goal in seven games, and has only registered three total in his last 25 games dating back to January 19. The rookie forward has 41 points in 61 games, but he is nothing close to the player he was earlier in the season.
Elliot Desnoyers
34 game goalless drought. Mind-boggling.
Emil Andrae
The rookie defenseman is riding a six game pointless streak. Andrae has 30 points in 62 games this season, with 26 of them being assists, but it’s hard to rack up points when every worthwhile contributor on the team is currently with the Flyers.
Hunter McDonald
21-year-old defenseman and 2022 sixth round pick Hunter McDonald made his debut with the Phantoms on Saturday… and didn’t make it out of the first period. He was injured and according to Phantoms radio guy Bob Rotruck “may be out for the foreseeable future.” Considering there’s less than a month left in the regular season, it appears his professional debut was cut short.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
brotherlypuck.com 