The 2019–20 Lehigh Valley Phantoms season is the franchise's 24th season in the American Hockey League, which began on October 5, 2019. It marked the fifth season with Scott Gordon as head coach.
The Phantoms had an eight-game standings point streak from October 11 to November 2, the team's first since November 2016. By November 10, the Phantoms had played in six overtime games, the second-most in the AHL.
The season was suspended by the league officials on March 12, 2020, after several other professional and collegiate sports organizations followed suit as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and was not able to resume play.
Off-season
Scott Gordon returned for his fifth season as head coach of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, after having spent part of the previous season as interim head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. The Phantoms made several new additions during the off-season, including forwards Andy Andreoff and Cal O'Reilly, and defenseman Nate Prosser. Andreoff played the previous season for the Syracuse Crunch, while O'Reilly and Prosser played for the Minnesota Wild organization. At 33, Prosser was the oldest player on the Phantoms at the start of the season, and the most experienced at the National Hockey League level, having played 354 games there. Just before the season began, Andreoff, O'Reilly, and Prosser were named team co-captains for the Phantoms. This marked the fourth team O'Reilly has served as a captain, along with the Utica Comets, Rochester Americans, and Iowa Wild.
The Phantoms played three preseason games, starting with two consecutive wins against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The game marked the first appearance as Phantoms for goaltender Jean-Francois Berube, who made 22 saves. The Phantoms lost their final preseason game on September 30, a 2–0 shutout loss to the Hershey Bears, bringing the Phantoms to a final preseason record of 2–1–0–0. Only six players from the Phantoms' 2018–19 season opening roster were still on the team as it entered its 2019–20 regular season. At the start of the season, The Hockey News included Phantoms defenseman Philippe Myers on its list of the "10 AHL Players You Should Be Watching in 2019–20". Heading into the regular season, Gordon believed the Phantoms lineup was one of the best Lehigh Valley ever had.
Regular season
October The Phantoms lost their season opener to the Providence Bruins at home on October 5 in a 3–0 shutout. The game marked the AHL debut of center Morgan Frost, and marked the sixth consecutive home opener with a sold-out crowd at the PPL Center, which included every season since the Phantoms franchise relocated to Lehigh Valley from Glens Falls, New York. Joel Farabee scored his first professional goal during his AHL debut on October 11 in a 4–1 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Forward Kurtis Gabriel scored the Phantoms' first goal of the season in the game, and his first as a member of the team, and Greg Carey scored his 100th career AHL assist on Farabee's goal. The matchup also marked the 700th professional game of defenseman T. J. Brennan, and the 114th game as a Phantom for goaltender Alex Lyon, more than any other goalie since the Phantoms moved to the Lehigh Valley in 2014. The Phantoms played their first overtime game of the season in a 4–3 loss to the Hershey Bears on October 12, losing with one second remaining in overtime. Maxim Sushko and Isaac Ratcliffe each scored their first professional goals in the game, and Farabee scored for the second consecutive game, and was named the Phantoms' Player of the Week. The Phantoms were 0-for-11 on the power play through their first three games.
Frost recorded three assists against the Binghamton Devils on October 18, which marked his first professional points, and he scored his first professional goal the next day against the Springfield Thunderbirds. Farabee was called up to the Philadelphia Flyers on October 20, after leading the Phantoms with three goals, and getting at least one point in each of his four games on the season. The Phantoms lost their first away game of the season in a shootout against the defending Calder Cup Champion Charlotte Checkers on October 25, but defeated them the next day, marking two consecutive games in which the Phantoms overcame a deficit after two periods. The Phantoms made a season-high 42 shots on October 26, a game that also marked Berube's first win as a Phantom, as well as Carey's 89th career goal with the team, the most of any Phantoms player. The Phantoms ended October on a six-game standings point streak beginning on October 11. Frost finished the month with a four-game point streak, tied with Farabee for the longest of the season at that point, and both Frost and center German Rubtsov ended October tied for most points and assists, with each recording 2 goals and 4 assists. On October 31, the Flyers recalled Myers, Rubtsov, and right-wing Carsen Twarynski from the Phantoms. At the time of his recall, Myers had a team-leading plus–minus rating of +8, which was tied for fourth-best in the AHL.
November A November 1 shootout loss to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton marked the fourth consecutive game the Phantoms rallied from behind in the third period to either win or force overtime. The Phantoms' standings point streak extended to eight games with a 3–2 win against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on November 2, the team's first eight-game streak since November 2016. The streak ended the next day with a 4–3 loss to Bridgeport, Lehigh Valley's sixth consecutive game decided by one goal. The game was Lyon's first regulation loss of the season, and marked the end of a seven-game point streak for Frost, over which he had four goals and five assists. It would be the longest points streak for a Phantom for the calendar year 2019. As of November 4, rookie right-wing Maksim Sushko ranked was third in the AHL with a 42.9 shooting percentage, with three goals on seven shot attempts. Defenseman Samuel Morin, who was playing in the Phantoms on a conditioning stint before an expected return to the Flyers, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during a November 6 game against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, an injury expected to end his season. Right-wing Kyle Criscuolo recorded his 100th professional point and first multi-point game with three points during a November 6 victory against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, his first two-goal game since February 16, 2018. As of November 7, the Phantoms were 3–0–0–0 in games when leading after two periods.
The Phantoms won their season's first overtime victory on November 9, as defenseman Andy Welinski scored his first career overtime goal to seal a 3–2 victory win the Hershey Bears. Following that game, Lehigh Valley had a winless four-game road trip, starting with a November 10 shootout loss against Hershey. It was the Phantoms' sixth overtime game of the season, the second-most in the AHL, with a league-tying four of those games going to a shootout. As of November 10, Frost had a team-leading five goals and 12 points, which rated second among AHL rookies in scoring. The Phantoms tied their season-high in shots with 42 in a 2–1 loss to Springfield on November 13. Frost was called up to the Flyers on November 18, after having scored 12 points (five goals and seven assists) in 16 games with the Phantoms. Twarynski was returned to the Phantoms the same day. Lehigh Valley snapped a four-game losing streak on November 20 with a 3–2 win over Charlotte, their first regulation win since November 6, and the first time they scored more than one goal since November 10. It also marked the season debut of forward Pascal Laberge, who was recalled from the Reading Royals the previous day and scored the game's first goal.
On November 22, in the Phantoms' seventh overtime game of the season, defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon played in his 400th professional game and recorded three assists, which tied his career-high. Mikhail Vorobyev also had three assists in the game, which was the last in his eight-game point streak. A November 27 loss to the Penguins marked the first time in the season that the Phantoms lost in regulation after scoring the game's first goal, and dropped the team's record to 5–1–2 when scoring first. The Phantoms defeated Wilkes-Barre/Scrantron in their next matchup on November 29, a 6–5 overtime victory that saw Matthew Strome score his first professional goal. A 2–1 overtime win against Hartford on November 30 marked the 375th career win of Scott Gordon, moving him into eight place for wins by an AHL coach. It also marked the first time in Phantoms history they won two back-to-back OT games at home, and only the fourth time in franchise history they've ever won in OT on consecutive nights. The game was their fourth overtime win of the season, tied for most in the AHL to that point.
December
Two months into the season, the Phantoms had dealt with more roster moves and injuries than most AHL teams, with key players like Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost and Philippe Myers getting called up to the Flyers, and others having also spent time in the NHL before returning to the Phantoms, such as Andy Andreoff, Connor Bunnaman, German Rubtsov, Carsen Twarynski, and Mikhail Vorobyev. At one point, the Phantoms lineup was missing four centers, as well as several defensemen and many of their youngest players. At one point, the team has nine players out of the lineup simultaneously. Lehigh Valley began December with a four-game losing streak, starting with a 3–1 loss to Springfield on December 4 despite a franchise-record 63 shots by Lehigh Valley. Greg Carey also set a single-game franchise record with 14 shots on goal, and opposing goalie Philippe Desrosiers' 62 saves was the most ever made against the Phantoms by an opposing goalie. All three of those previous records had been set in a Philadelphia Phantoms game against the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks on January 6, 1999, when the Phantoms made 60 shots, Richard Park made 13 shots on goal, and Tom Askey made 61 saves against Philadelphia. Bunnaman scored a goal in the December 4 game that made him the 23rd Phantom to score in 2019, the most in the AHL to that point.
December 6 marked the 200th professional game for Andy Welinski and Reece Willcox; all of Willcox's games were with Phantoms. Kyle Criscuolo reached his 200th game on December 7, which also marked the 227th game for Nicolas Aubé-Kubel, the fifth most of any player in Lehigh Valley history. The Phantoms 1–0 loss to the Hershey Bears on December 7 was the fifth straight game between the two teams to be decided by one goal, the first 1–0 loss for the Phantoms since they came to Lehigh Valley in 2014, and the first 1–0 loss in 249 games against Hershey dating back to 1996. As of that game, the Phantoms had a league-leading 18 games decided by one goal, out of 25 season games played in total. The Phantoms also lost 4–0 to Hartford on December 13, their second straight shutout loss, and the third one of the season. December 13 saw the return of Andreoff, Rubtsov, Maksim Sushko, Chris Bigras, all of whom had been out three weeks or longer due to injury. A December 21 game against Charlotte saw the AHL debut of left-wing Max Willman, and Bigras' first multi-point game with Lehigh Valley, both assists. Laberge also scored two goals, his third multi-goal game in 28 contests. Charlotte beat the Phantoms 4–2 the next day, the first time in six games on the season that the defending Calder Cup champions defeated Lehigh Valley in regulation. It also marked the first of a four-game losing streak for the Phantoms.