The Phantoms kicked off their regular season last night with a big matchup against a bruising Belleville Senators team, and while they still showed some flashes of roughness and uneven play, they managed nicely to get the ball rolling and settle into playing their own game, and to some very positive results.
While the Phantoms’ offensive game was looking a little stifled through the very early goings, they got a much needed jolt with a goal from Devin Kaplan, as he picked up his first in his first true AHL game.
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— Lehigh Valley Phantoms (@LVPhantoms) October 11, 2025
And it was a pretty tremendous individual effort to make this goal happen — after Ty Murchison turned the puck over inside the blueline on the entry, Kaplan made a great heads up play to jump on the loose puck and find a soft area to get a shot on net and past the Senators goaltender.
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— Lehigh Valley Phantoms (@LVPhantoms) October 11, 2025
The strength of his shot was on full display on that first goal, and he was quickly able to flex it again, later in the first period, when his line was able to get going up ice on the rush and Kaplan was able to get himself right back to that same area of the ice, inside the right circle, to strike again on a similar looking shot.
Kaplan’s game was an effective one on the whole (he embraced the checking role nicely and did it without come at the expense of his offense, which very nearly got him the hat trick later in the game), and while it was notable that he was able to step up in such a big way in his debut in the league (particularly after a somewhat unspectacular preseason), it was even more remarkable how he was able to maintain such a high level of play and engagement while playing in a fourth line role. And for a team with an excess of forwards at their disposal and a finite number of minutes to distribute between them, this is exactly the type of showing a coach wants to see.
“I think it’s a double edged sword sometimes,” head coach John Snowden said after the game, “for the players, for me, it’s not — we do have a lot of forwards and we do have a lot of forwards who can play in any situation, we have a deep forward group, there’s gonna be some times that, you know, players are gonna want more and they gotta earn those things, right? But I also believe that competition breeds success, and when you’re competing for those situations, you want to be on the power play, you want to be out the last minute to defend the lead, you want to be out the last minute to get us a lead or tie us up, you want to be on the penalty kill, you want to be in those situations, the competition of the team, it breeds the success of the team, and I think that’s where we’re at. We have a lot of very good forwards and it’s gonna be a very competitive group to who’s gonna play every night and who’s going to play in those situations, but I think that’s a good thing, that’s a positive thing, as long as we as a group and as a team — like I’ve talked about, once we get into that team — we understand and we can grasp what it is and we can hold on to what it is, we can be okay with what it is, because everyone wants all the minutes, and you can only give so many out, so just embrace what you have and make the most of what you have and just be a positive teammate and I think that’s where we gotta keep pushing.”
If the Phantoms are going to find success this season at the hands of their depth, they’re going to need everyone to buy in, embrace whatever role they’re given without sulking, and keep pulling in the same direction. And if Kaplan’s performance last night proved anything, it’s that you can still have your moment in the sun while playing down in the lineup, so long as you maintain your commitment to playing the right way.
Bits and bobs
- What immediately stands out about this game is just how much special teams time was seen across the board, and how much one of the Phantoms’ old trouble spots, their lack of discipline, cropped up again in this one. The Phantoms were whistled for nine minor penalties in this one, and seven ended in power plays for the Senators, but through a tremendous bit of effort from the Phantoms’ penalty killers, they were held off the board entirely across those seven attempts. It was the sum of all elements working together nicely — between some aggressive checking to get after pucks and force turnovers for either a tidy clear or a shorthanded rush, some well executed board work, and a few massive saves from their goaltender, they were able to keep the Senators’ chances pretty well stifled. Now, the hope is that these penalty killing units won’t be tested so dramatically in the next time out and beyond, but it was a positive to seem them take care of business when called upon here, all the same.
- Also impossible to ignore as well was the pace with which the Phantoms were able to play in this one, and much of that stemmed from how well their transition game was clicking. And this is a new development for them — the team at times last year could look a bit too lackadaisical in their regroups and breakouts, struggled to get through the neutral zone with control, but this season, they’re emphasizing playing with possession and decisiveness, with the thought being that the rest of their offense will come alive building off of that. And that’s just what happened last night. With two goals scored on the rush and a handful of good chances piled on on top of that, the Phantoms looked dangerous when getting into the offensive zone with speed. Now, it wasn’t a perfect showing from them in this area, as they also had some pucks taken off of them just inside the blueline, but it’s a step in the right direction, and a good foundation to build up from.
- The Phantoms are coming into this season with an intriguing young goalie tandem, and while that will be an interesting one to track to see which of the two is able to pull ahead as the season went on, for Game 1, the more experienced Aleksei Kolosov was given the nod for the start, and he held up reasonably well in that start. Despite the Phantoms getting the better of the scoring luck during the first period, the Senators certainly weren’t making things easy on them, with two power plays to work with and 11 shots piled on, but Kolosov was able to bail them out with a few especially big saves, while the skaters worked to settle in in front of him. It wasn’t a completely perfect showing from Kolosov — he had a couple of moments of overplaying initial shots and getting pulled out of position, and he let in one leaky goal — but he still managed to do enough in this one, stopping 27 of the 29 shots he faced, and making a bit of positive momentum, as he looked a bit sharper than he did in his last start in the preseason, which is certainly not nothing.
- This game was, all in all, not the tidiest effort the Phantoms have ever put together. On top of the troubles in discipline and the lack of continuity all of the special teams time brought with it, the Phantoms let off the gas pretty markedly in the third period, having come in with a four-goal lead but sitting back and losing control on some of their details focus, and ended up allowing two goals for the Senators to get back in it, while only managing to put up five shots for themselves across the frame. Now, they had built up enough of a cushion that this didn’t become a huge problem for them, and they were able to do just enough defensively to keep things from spiraling worse, but this one did still get away from them a bit. But, of course, this is all part of the process of a young team learning to play together as a cohesive unit and within the new system that’s been put into place. They’ve certainly made some positive strides since their last times out in the preseason, but there are still parts of their collective game that will need to be tidied up, and will be, as they continue to ramp up over these next few games. The Phantoms have what’s sure to be a tough matchup on deck this afternoon — as the Penguins come to town for the first time since the Phantoms eliminated them in the play-in round last spring — and a chance to keep this thing building in the right direction. We’ll see how that shakes out.
