GORDON: Phantoms Have To 'Weather The Storm'

GORDON: Phantoms Have To 'Weather The Storm'

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - When the Lehigh Valley Phantoms opened training camp in late-January, they began with three goalies, eight defensemen and 17 forwards.

Two weeks into the American Hockey League (AHL) season, the Phantoms enter Saturday's home opener with less active players than needed to dress a full lineup of 12 forwards, six defensemen and two goaltenders.

"We had all six forward lines and eight defensemen, and now it's thinning out pretty quickly," Phantoms' head coach Scott Gordon told InsideAHLHockey.com earlier this week.

The reason the Phantoms' roster is so depleted is due to a COVID outbreak with their NHL parent Philadelphia Flyers, where as many as eight players were on the NHL's COVID Protocol list. As a result, the Phantoms have seen several players called up to the Flyers.

Injuries to Phantoms' defenseman Chris Bigras and forwards Tyson Foerster, Tanner Laczynski and Linus Sandin have also depleted the Phantoms' once deep roster, but it hasn't stopped Lehigh Valley from jumping out to a 2-0-1 start to their season.

"I think our guys have handled it well. They appear to be playing with some confidence, so we just have to try to weather the storm," Gordon said, adding, "we should be getting some guys back probably in a week or two which will set us up for the next month which is going to be busier."

The Phantoms will have played four games in a two-week span to start the season after Saturday's home opener tonight against Binghamton. They are then scheduled to play seven games in a 15-day stretch when they next resume play on Wednesday, February 24th.

Things are definitely about to get busier for Gordon and the Phantoms. Hopefully, they'll at least be able to field a full lineup with 18 skaters in those games. All signs point to Lehigh Valley being short on the bench tonight.

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