The Lehigh Valley Phantoms came into 2017 third in the Atlantic Division with 44 points, trailing both Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Providence by just one point. Providence has played two more games than the Phantoms and Penguins at this point in the season.

Lehigh Valley is on its New Year's break and will have been off for six days when they take to the ice in Hartford Friday night. The Phantoms return home for games Saturday against Albany and Sunday against Utica.Going into the break, Lehigh Valley's' Mark Zengerle had a homecoming of sorts, when the team went into Rochester for a pair of games last Wednesday and Friday. Zengerle scored twice in Lehigh Valley's 4-2 win over the Americans, but couldn't complete the performance in the second game of the series, with the Phantoms falling 4-3 in overtime. Even though they couldn't pull out the win, the Phantoms were able to pick up a point to keep pace in the Atlantic Division.Zengerle's first goal came just one second after a Phantoms power play expired, giving Lehigh Valley a 2-0 lead. On the goal, a secondary assist was awarded to Travis Sanheim which extended his points streak to three games and gave him four goals and two assists in his last seven games. The point streak would end when Sanheim was shut out two nights later in Rochester.The second goal of the night for Zengerle came 1:27 after Rochester had pulled to within one goal, giving Lehigh Valley some breathing room at 3-1. The Phantoms would stretch it to 4-1 before goalie Alex Lyon got beat on a play for Rochester's second goal of the night.Coach Scott Gordon has been preaching more patience and a more controlled style of play from his team this season and the players have taken the approach to heart, with added success defensively, especially."We knew we would score goals," said Gordon before the break. "What has been great has been how we have responded defensively."We're not just rushing into the offensive zone and not keeping anybody back, there's no recklessness to what we're doing and it's helping on both sides, because the attacks are more coordinated and we have more help defensively in front of the net."THE LYON'S SHARE ... Alex Lyon has started all but one of the Phantoms last 20 games, leaving Martin Ouellette to spend plenty of time trying to remember what it's like to be in goal. While Lyon faced just 16 shots on Wednesday, he was peppered by the Americans to the tune of 40 shots in the Friday matchup. On the season, Lyon is 14-6-2-1 with a 2.77 goals against average.THE ROUTE 222 SHUTTLE ... Steven Swavely and Maxim Lamarche were returned on loan to the Reading Royals Monday. Swavely is from Reading and has played in 10 games with LV and 16 for his hometown team.ALL-STAR COACHES ... The AHL named the coaches for the four all-star teams that will play in a round robin tournament at the AHL All-Star Classic at the PPL Center in late January. Each division will have its own team for the classic, with the Atlantic Division team being coached by Clark Donatelli (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton), and the North Division by Benoit Groulx (Syracuse). Todd Nelson (Grand Rapids) will coach the Central Division and Mike Stothers (Ontario) will coach the Pacific Division team.SIT DOWN, BOY! ... Will O'Neill started a scuffle at the conclusion of a recent game against Hershey. For that, the AHL suspended O'Neill for one game, following his match penalty for punching an unsuspecting player. O'Neill sat out Wednesday in Rochester.