In a real bit of organizational continuity, the Phantoms’ power play has been struggling pretty mightily of late. With just a 17.7 percent congestion rate on the season, they’ve seen their production dip even more still for the month of March — with only five goals on their 35 attempts to date, their power play has fallen to a meager 14.29 percent across these first nine games of the month.
And for a team that’s been inconsistent in their scoring across all situations across the whole of the season — they’re in the bottom half of the league in goals scored — this is a big concern. And with the playoffs now just a few short weeks away, the Phantoms are looking around for answers, and trying everything to rebuild their form, and get in a position to roll into the postseason on a high note.
It’s a work in progress, to be sure, but the Phantoms have seen a significant boost brought to their power by newly acquired prospect Nikita Grebenkin.
A BIG day for the new guys! #LVvsWBS | #LVPhantoms pic.twitter.com/tOLriL65GW
— Lehigh Valley Phantoms (@LVPhantoms) March 16, 2025
It was clear from his debut that he could be a real difference maker for them — even as it was clear that he wasn’t completely in synch with his new teammates yet (a lack of practice time will do that), he was moving the puck around well and trying to make some interesting plays while playing up on the left flank, and then was ultimately able to get himself on the board when he dropped down to open himself up for a chance at the net front.
Nikita’s right at home 🥰🏠#LVvsMIL | #LVPhantoms pic.twitter.com/tCZdKrjBi9
— Lehigh Valley Phantoms (@LVPhantoms) March 19, 2025
After that debut, Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere noted that he expected that Grebenkin’s presence would give their power play a boost, as he continues to get rolling with his new team, but that boost was felt pretty immediately, as he picked up another goal on the man advantage in his second game with the team — one quite similar looking to the first, at that.
And it was a goal that impressed his head coach not just for what it was, but also for the possibility that it represented. “That goal,” Laperriere said postgame, “great play by [Wilson] there, but if you look back at that goal, there are just the little details in [Grebenkin’s] netfront presence there when he lifted the guy’s stick, just to give himself a little more time. He’s got quick hands, so it was quickly, he just lifted the stick and put it in the back of the net. He’s got that flair to make plays on the power play and we welcome that right now. We do, like you know, missing a lot of our regulars on the power play [with guys called up to the Flyers], we need somebody to step up and he’s stepping up right now”
Grebenkin’s streak of power play scoring was ended in Friday’s game, as the Phantoms were shut out by the Syracuse Crunch, and he was again held off the board on Saturday against the Providence Bruins, but his efforts on that first power play unit helped to fuel a good bit of the relatively little offense the Phantoms were able to generate.
It’s a useful reminder that Grebenkin — and indeed, no single player — can serve as a complete fix for a struggling power play unit, but he can be a piece of the equation which gets them moving in the right direction again.
