Who is Lehigh Valley's Most Complete Forward?

ALLENTOWN - Since November 22, there's no hotter player in the entire American Hockey League (AHL).

He's recorded a leauge-best 16 points (6 goals, 10 assists) over 13 games during that stretch, and enters the final week before the holidays in the midst of a four-game point streak.*

He's been labeled a Swiss-Army knife by his coaches, a guy capable of playing up and down the lineup both in the middle or on the wing.

First line? No problem.

Power play? More than capable.

Penalty kill? He's usually the first over the boards.

Face-offs, late-game situations and defensive zone starts against the opposition's top scorers? You bet.

There is probably not a more complete player on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this season than forward Corban Knight, a guy that doesn't get a lot of attention compared to some of the Flyers organization's highly-touted forward prospects on the AHL club's roster.

Tyrell Goulbourne has said on several occasions that Knight can play with anyone, and attributed his own personal success to playing on a line with Knight in previous games.

If you ask head coach Scott Gordon about Knight's recent offensive surge, he'll tell you that he's been playing very well all year - offensive production or not.

"Whether he gets points or not, he makes a contribution whether it's face-offs, penalty killing..." Gordon said after last Saturday's win against Syracuse, a game where Knight talled a goal and an assist. "He's smart, and a [strong] defensive player. You know what you're going to get from him every single night. It's very rare that he ever has a bad game."

While Philadelphia fans are over-anxious awaiting younger flashier forward prospects like Oskar Lindblom, Danick Martel or Mike Vecchione to get the call up to the NHL club, if a bottom-six forward on the Flyers goes down with an injury and a replacement is needed there might not be a better option than that of Knight - a 27-year-old AHL veteran that also has 29 NHL games of experience under his belt to go along with 264 AHL games as a pro.

Throughout his two years in the Flyers organization, spent entirely in the AHL with the Phantoms, Knight has been a key cog to the Flyers affiliate's success, doing the dirty work  - killing penalties, playing against and shutting down the opposition's top scorers on a nightly basis and being a reliable two-way forward that Gordon has played in all situations.

Now that the injuries to the forward core are starting to mount - Cole Bardreau, Colin McDonald, Mikhail Vorobyev and Mike Vecchione are currently on the injured list - Knight has been placed into a more offensive role, centering Danick Martel and Nicolas Aube-Kubel.

To say he's making the most of his increased offensive role as of late is a vast understatement.

"I don't know if there's any rhyme or reason to it, I just tried to simplify my game a little bit," Knight said, adding modestly, "I've been on the receiving end of some nice plays right now by teammates. Puck luck is just going my way."

Prior to Wednesday night's 5-4 overtime loss to Hartford, Knight had points in four straight games to go along with a very productive start to the month of December. The CCM/AHL Player of the Month Award is generally given to first and second year players that perform well, but the league might not have much of a choice if Knight continues to light the lamp and tally game-winning goals like he did in overtime this past Sunday in Bridgeport.