The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have had a spotty month of November record-wise, but have showcased the ability to dominant the opposition at times.
With one more game left to play in November, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms have the chance to earn their sixth victory of the month against the Laval Rocket on Friday night.
They currently sit with five wins and four losses through the month, with one of those losses coming in overtime. The Phantoms are tied fifth with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins points-wise in the Atlantic Division, having at least one game in hand on the teams that rank ahead of them. Lehigh Valley trail the third and fourth place teams by an added total of three points, and could possibly jump them with a win against Laval.
The Phantoms have had some dominant looking performances against the Springfield Thunderbirds and Hershey Bears this past month, but have looked flat in a couple of their contests as well. They have surrendered at least four goals in three of the nine games played so far with some of the faults coming back on goaltending.
Young net-minder Carter Hart has still struggled to find his footing in AHL play, posting a 3.61 Goals-Against Average and a .884 save percentage on the year. He had a very solid 29 save performance against Hershey, though, so I still think he’ll be able to turn it around given more time in the AHL.
As far as the skaters are concerned, Phil Varone and Greg Carey are still leading the Phantoms in terms of scoring. Varone has 23 points (7 Goals, 16 Assists) and Carey has 22 points (12 Goals, 10 Assists) in 18 games respectively. They’ve played together really well on the Phantoms top-line and show very little signs of slowing down in terms of scoring production.
Focusing in on the prospects, Phil Myers is second among Lehigh Valley defensemen in points with 11 (5 Goals, 6 Assists) and forwards Mikhail Vorobyev and Nicolas Aube-Kubel are at a near point-per-game pace after their brief stints with the Flyers. Aube-Kubel looked solid with Varone and Carey during his time on the first line, helping instill some confidence in the young player after going without a point in the NHL.
2016 First round pick German Rubtsov sadly went down with a shoulder injury earlier in the month and will be out for the remainder of the season as he recovers from surgery. Rubtsov was having a very good first AHL season, netting 10 points in 14 games, making this injury that much harder to swallow as a Flyers and Phantoms fan.
Lehigh Valley will hope to avoid a two game losing streak heading into December, hitting the road to take on Laval as previously mentioned. Earning a victory would help close out the month on a strong note, as they’ve displayed a few inconsistent performances through November.