The Phantoms played two games on the road this week in Cleveland, picking up wins in both games. First, they secured the first shutout of the season on Friday, then a 3-2 overtime victory on Saturday. They improve to 3-1-0-0 to start the 2025-26 campaign.
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Devin Kaplan
Kaplan racked up a pair of assist on Friday. He now leads the team in points with four in four games, which is even more impressive considering he’s doing it from what has largely been a bottom six role to start the season. He may not be atop the interest list when it comes to notable prospects, but it’s the second week in a row where we walked away impressed by the former third round pick.
Alexei Kolosov
Kolosov pitched his first North American professional shutout Friday night. He’s made 62 saves through his first two starts and is currently rocking a .969 save percentage. Besides the two softies he allowed late in the hope opener, you really couldn’t ask for a better start for the sophomore goalie. Can he keep it up? Color us skeptical based on his sample size from last season, but if he’s committed to showing up, working and developing, this is a good sign that he may be a beacon of hope in the near future.
Alex Bump
Bump logged his first goal on the season on Friday in tremendous fashion and tacked on an assist as well. The rookie was easily the most disappointing player through training camp, preseason and the first two games of the regular season, but he remembered how to play hockey this week and was quite the phenom with a between-the-legs highlight reel goal. He’s got his confidence back, so hopefully it’s safe to expect a huge upward trajectory from here on out.
Karsen Dorwart
Dorwart picked up a goal and and assist on Friday. He’s been mainly lining up at 3C early in the season stuck behind Lane Pederson and Jacob Gaucher on the depth chart, but often, that’s where they’ve been putting their younger scorers, as he’s been flanked by Denver Barkey, Alex Bump, Samu Tuomaala and Alexis Gendron at various points during the first four games of the season. So it shouldn’t be surprising that he’ll rack up some points, but they may keep coming in bunches given some of the limited five-on-five minutes he’s been getting.
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Denver Barkey
Barkey scored his first professional goal on Saturday. It came on the man advantage in the first period on what was just his third shot on goal all season. Barkey is a talented player, but there is definitely a bit of an adjustment period going on given his small stature and semi-limited minutes he’s been getting thus far. He will hopefully still be a stud in the long-term, but for the time being it may take a minute before he starts to dazzle regularly.
Emil Andrae
Andrae assisted on Anthony Richard’s powerplay goal on Saturday. The fact that he’s back with the Phantoms does not bode well for his future at the NHL level, which should be the endgame, after all. But when he’s with the Phantoms he’s going to be their top guy and rack up points consistently. He doesn’t have a whole lot more to prove down here.
Carson Bjarnason
Bjarnason picked up his first professional victory in a shootout on Saturday. He made 33 saves on 35 shots and stopped all four shots he faced in the shootout. It was easily the best showing for Bjarnason yet dating back to preseason action. But as long as Kolosov remains hot, Bjarnason is going to be stuck in the backup role for the foreseeable future.
Alexis Gendron
Gendron recorded a powerplay assist on Saturday, but was scratched on Friday. The Phantoms continue to juggle lines and swap some of the vets in and out of the action early in the season, but considering Gendron is looking to replicate his 20-goal season from last year, we were hoping for a bit more of a notable start from the third-year forward.
Hunter McDonald
McDonald has one assist and only four penalty minute through the team’s first four games. He’s largely been just a dude thus far, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing when it comes to defensemen, particularly when they’re big and have a history of boneheaded penalties. He entered this season with a lot less shine than he did last year, but given the disaster known as the Philadelphia Flyers’ main roster defense, basic solid showings from McDonald on a night-to-night basis may actually bode well for an NHL promotion at some point down the road.
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Samu Tuomaala
For the second week in a row, Tuomaala only dressed in one of the Phantoms’ games over the weekend. He’s been taking the role of the grizzled vet that is being set aside in favor of playing some of the younger players in the roster, which doesn’t exactly paint a great image for what the organization thinks of Tuomaala as a prospect these days.
Massimo Rizzo
Rizzo was demoted to the ECHL after failing to dress in a game for the Phantoms to start the season. Rizzo’s rookie season was marred by injury and limited opportunity when he was healthy, and he found himself as the odd man out so far this year, which should evaporate any lingering promise he may of had as a prospect.
Oskar Eklind
Eklind has only played in one of the Phantoms’ games so far this season. Not entirely sure why they re-signed this guy. He wasn’t particularly great last year and the overflow of bodies at forward wasn’t really a secret in the summer.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
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