The Phantoms reached the midway point of the season Friday night, playing their 38th game of the season, and beating Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 5-3 to put their record at 26-10-2.

In addition to the win over the Penguins, Lehigh Valley added a key win over Hershey Sunday on the road, but suffered a 9-1 loss to Providence, their worst defeat of the season.The games against division foes left Lehigh Valley with sole possession of second place in the Atlantic Division, seven points behind the Penguins and one point ahead of Providence.While half of the Phantoms schedule is crossed off, only two of the 12 games against rival and division-leading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton have been played, meaning that the meetings between the two teams over the rest of the season will go a long way in determining what happens in the Atlantic Division.Lehigh Valley won the first two games against the Pens and after Friday night's game, had three games in hand compared to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, meaning they have a legitimate shot at catching the Penguins, even if the coach's mom isn't sure they do."It looks like there's a bigger climb because of the fact that we have three games in hand. I was trying to explain that to my mother today, because she didn't think we had a chance to catch them," said coach Scott Gordon after Friday's win. "I told her we had three games in hand and if we win them, we're within three points of them. She says 'they might win their games too', and I said 'then we would win the three games.' So, that was an interesting conversation."With the Penguins off on Sunday, Lehigh Valley did win one of those in-hand games to help make up some room, but Saturday night's loss definitely hurt.The offensive line of Taylor Leier, Scott Laughton and Colin McDonald has been especially effective lately, especially early in games. Against the Pens, the line produced the first goal of the game just 39 seconds into the first period and then scored again early in the second.On the night, the three combined for two goals and five assists. The trio would finish the weekend with five goals and nine assists."We just focus on having good starts. Those fast starts in a period are a key to momentum and we focus on that. The guys were bugging to do it again in the third period, but we couldn't do it," laughed Leier.DAY TRIP TO READING ... Defenseman Reece Wilcox and forward Radel Fazleev had been riding the bench as healthy scratches, so to get them some ice time, they were both temporarily reassigned to Reading on Friday and played Friday night. They both returned to the Phantoms Saturday and saw some ice time for the Phantoms Sunday.THREE'S A CROWD ... With Anthony Stolarz and Alex Lyon both playing well and splitting time in goal, it would stand to reason a third goaltender wouldn't be needed for the Phantoms. But enter Mark Dekanich, a 30-year old goalie, who was 10-9-1 in 22 games with the Reading Royals this season. Dekanich was added to the Phantoms on loan from Reading.SOME NEW SWEATERS ... Before Friday night's game, AHL president David Andrews presented Phantoms all-stars Leier, T.J. Brennan and Jordan Weal with their all-star jerseys. To commemorate the upcoming all-star weekend, the Phantoms wore special all-star style jerseys in Friday night's game.