Rivalries are taking on an especially important role for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The Phantoms came into the week tied for first place in the Atlantic Division with their two biggest AHL rivals, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Hershey Bears.

Over the weekend, the Phantoms and Bears split a home-and-home series, with each team winning on the other team's home ice. Lehigh Valley then went on to beat nemesis Bridgeport on Sunday to go 2-1 on their stretch of three games in three days. Meanwhile, the Penguins suffered an overtime loss to St. John's on Sunday, allowing the Phantoms to catch up in the standings.The hot team now, is Hershey, which has won seven of its last nine games, with the other two games being overtime losses. Lehigh Valley battled Hershey tough at home, falling behind, but putting on a late run in that fell short in a 4-3 loss at home."I think that we're showing teams that they can't expect us to just lay down for them if they get a lead," said defenseman Robert Hagg, who scored his first goal of the season in Friday night's loss.Hagg has missed time because of a concussion and his return to full health should help to provide some defensive spark to a team that is more offensive-minded this season than it has been in the past couple of seasons."I'm feeling better and better every game. It's hard to get back from a concussion, but I'm starting to feel better," explained Hagg.The fact that the Phantoms beat Hershey on their ice, but lost at home might not be surprising. Since opening the PPL Center, Lehigh Valley is 36-39-7-1 at home. This season, Lehigh Valley is 5-3-1-0 at home, and they haven't always put their best performances out for the home crowd to see, many times having to play from behind thanks to slow starts."I don't have an answer for that, but that's something we need to figure out, because that can't happen," admitted Hagg. "We need to get the crowd going early in the game and have a good start to build momentum."NEED MONEY FOR TOLLS? ... Taylor Leier is the latest Phantom to make the trip down the turnpike to Philadelphia. The 22-year-old made his NHL debut earlier this season, and leaves with the second-highest point total among Phantoms players, with 20 points (six goals, 14 assists). Coming the other way is Scott Laughton, also a 22-year old-forward, who made his NHL debut with the Flyers last season.NOT THOSE BEARS, TEDDY BEARS ... While the Phantoms would like to keep tossing losses to the Hershey Bears, there are going to be Teddy Bears flying at the PPL Center Saturday night. Fans are encouraged to bring stuffed animals of any kind to throw on the ice after the Phantoms first goal. The bears and other critters are then scooped up and given to needy children throughout the Lehigh Valley for the holidays.NEW GUY IN GOAL ... Martin Ouellette made his season debut with the Phantoms Sunday in Bridgeport after being recalled from the Reading Royals when Anthony Stolarz went to Philly. Ouellette had 19 saves in Lehigh Valley's 3-2 win that moved them ahead of Bridgeport in the standings into a three-way tie for first place. Ouellette had shutout wins in his last two starts with the Phantoms in 2015-2016, but had that streak snapped at 10:17 of the second period. Overall, Ouellette had a stretch of 155-minutes and 37-seconds in the net without allowing a goal.