Lehigh Valley Phantoms Have The Physicality to Upset WBS Penguins

The Calder Cup Playoffs began with some upsets out of the gate. The Springfield Thunderbirds shocked the Providence Bruins with a 2-1 victory on Wednesday, and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms shocked the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins the same night. The Phantoms took over the game early and never looked back, as “They just wanted it more tonight,” Penguins forward Tristan Broz noted after the game.

Related: What Makes the Lehigh Valley Phantoms a Playoff Caliber Team

The final score was 5-2, yet the play was more lopsided than that. The Phantoms were in control of the game from the opening puck drop and had the Penguins chasing and out of their comfort zone. The Phantoms were a great team this season in the American Hockey League, winning only 36 of their 72 regular-season contests, but they’ve proven they can make a playoff run, given their style.

Phantoms’ Physicality Takes Over

The Phantoms set the tone early on with their hard hits and the forecheck. The Penguins love to play with pace and speed, but they never got the chance because the Phantoms imposed their will. “They took away our options on the breakout,” Broz stated after the stunning defeat for the Penguins. With Jacob Gaucher and Anthony Richard applying pressure in the offensive zone while Louie Belpedio and Emil Andrae cleaned up plays on the defensive end, the Phantoms controlled the pace.

The Phantoms scored their first goal in the first period, with Olle Lycksell skating to the crease and collecting the rebound to find the back of the net in the dirty area. The two goals in the second period gave them a commanding lead, and suddenly, a team that went 40-24-7-1 this season was on the ropes and playing like a worn-down team. “We competed from start to finish,” Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere noted after the game, and it wasn’t just with their physical play but how they stepped up on both ends of the ice, with the young players delivering on the big stage.

Alex Bump, a 21-year-old forward who joined the team late in the season and played only two games, found the back of the net twice in his first playoff game with the help of great puck movement and the team’s ability to take advantage of mistakes. “Their defense didn’t want to play a hard game, so we just made them turn the pucks over,” Bump said, reflecting on the Penguins’ poor defense and the Phantoms’ ability to adapt to the situation.

The Phantoms are playing a brand of hockey that’s needed at this time of the season. The playoffs are when physical play and the forecheck make a difference, and this not only gives the Phantoms an edge against the Penguins, an in-state rival they know well, but it should also help them to make a deep playoff run.

Penguins & Their Inability to Pivot

The Penguins were a great team all season because of their offense. They move the puck up the ice, play fast, and are usually on the winning end of lopsided games because they can run up the score. It’s why they’ve won plenty of games this season by multiple goals, with Broz scoring 18 and Ville Koivunen adding 56 points.

The problem is that playoff hockey hasn’t been fast. “Skill-wise, we are the better team, but it’s not about skill,” Broz stated after Game 1, where the Penguins displayed more talent but no control. The playoffs demand physical play, and the Penguins didn’t feel comfortable playing that way, especially on the defensive end of the ice. “They don’t like to defend, soft defenders in my opinion, so just working them down low and keep them below the hashmarks, and things will open up from there,” Bump said.

Expect the Penguins to make adjustments ahead of Game 2, where a loss will end their season. They maybe should play a more physical game. But that’s not how they play, and there’s no intention to pivot following the loss. “We’re gonna play to our identity,” Penguins head coach Kirk MacDonald noted. “We let them slow the game down.”

The overall impression from the Penguins is that if they stick to their game, they’ll win. Right now, they are their own worst enemy. “They are a team that wants to slow the game down, and we are a team that can push the pace,” Broz noted after the game. However, not changing their game might be their undoing in this short series and the playoffs altogether.

How The Penguins Can Still Win This Series

The Penguins win with speed, and they lost that way as well. All season, they’ve won the high-scoring games, averaging 3.38 goals per game while allowing 2.98 per game. It’s how they’ll make a run and possibly turn this short three-game series around. The Phantoms are prepared to stop them, but they still have enough talent to win the series. “I think we just gotta keep it simple,” Broz mentioned after Game 1’s stunning loss, and if they can settle into the game and find their footing, they’ll be fine.

Why The Phantoms Can Make a Playoff Run

Along with their style is their young skaters, something the Phantoms have plenty of. The AHL is known for humbling prospects. Young teams struggle and can be overwhelmed. The catch is that the Phantoms have been a young team all season, and they’ve had the time to develop to go toe-to-toe with the best in the league.

They’ve matured since the start of the season and are rounding into form at the right time. Bump had a big night, but so did Jett Luchanko, an 18-year-old forward first-round selection in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, who had two assists in the victory. “He’s got poise with that puck,” Laperriere noted as he heaped praise on the play of his prospects, and specifically on those who joined the team late in the season. “They were great. They were everything as advertised. They have talent, but they are showing me they have compete,” he stated.

All season, everyone has tried to figure out what makes the Phantoms special. How does an underwhelming team on both ends of the ice look like a playoff team? Now, they are only one win away from advancing past the First Round, so it’s easy to see why they can go on a run. They’ve developed into a complete team, and with Laperriere’s style, they’ve been playing playoff hockey all season. Now that it’s playoff time, they are prepared.