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New faces on board for final regular season games

With the Phantoms welcoming a bunch of new faces to the team for the final games of the AHL season, there are bound to be a number of first-time achievements among the group of newcomers.

In a road contest Saturday night, three Phantoms players collected firsts in their AHL careers as Lehigh Valley picked up a 4-0 win over St. John's to give them four straight victories.Goalie Martin Ouellette picked up his first AHL shutout after just missing one a week earlier when he turned away 38 of 39 shots, allowing just a six-on-five goal in the final minute of play to lose a shutout to the Hartford Wolf Pack. Against St. John's, the second-year goaltender made 31 saves to continue his solid play as the No. 1 goalie for Lehigh Valley.Ouellette is getting an extended opportunity with Anthony Stolarz playing with the Flyers and Jason LaBarbera nursing an injury. Ouellette's opportunity to play will continue even though the Flyers have signed veteran goalie Ray Emery, who will serve behind both Steve Mason and Stolarz in the NHL.Reece Wilcox was playing in just his second AHL game against the Ice Caps when he tallied his first goal in the league. Wilcox, a defenseman, is playing with Lehigh Valley on an amateur tryout deal after signing a contract for next season on March 21. Wilcox was selected by the Flyers in the 2012 Draft.Meanwhile, Oskar Lindblom, also playing in just his second game with the Phantoms, picked up his first AHL assist. Lindblom was given the second assist after a strong centering pass to Chris Conner, who slipped the puck over to Tim Brent in the left slot, helping Brent to his eighth goal of the season.The Flyers continued the pipeline of young players heading to Lehigh Valley on Monday when they sent three players - defenseman Travis Sanheim and forwards Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Radel Fazleev - to the Phantoms from their Canadian Hockey League clubs.The 19-year-old Aube-Kubel notched 38 goals and 46 assists in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League this season, while 20-year old Russian Fazleev scored 19 goals and added 52 assists. Sanheim, 20, finished fourth among all Western Hockey League defensemen in scoring with 68 total points, including 15 goals. All three were selected by Philadelphia in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.Phantom Facts: Chris Conner (16 goals, 33 assists) is one point away from his fifth career 50-point AHL campaign. The 32-year old forward leads all active Phantoms in points this season ... Defenseman Samuel Morin is the only Phantoms player to have seen action in all 70 games this season. Winger Tyrell Goulbourne has played in 69 of the 70 games ... The Phantoms return home Saturday night looking for their 12th straight sellout at the PPL Center. On the season, they've collected 22 capacity crowds in their second season of play.