On the eve of the Calder Cup Playoff qualifying round, the Phantoms may well have just suffered a significant blow.
The Phantoms played their penultimate game of the regular season — and their last on home ice — Friday night against the Cleveland Monsters, and with a lineup more or less full of regulars, looked ready to use these last couple of games to test out some new looks in their lines ahead of next week’s beginning of playoff action.
Trailing late in the second period, they saw their luck erode even further, when Alexis Gendron was tripped up on a rush in on the net and crashed hard into the Cleveland goaltender.
Tough blow for the Phantoms, who lost Alexis Gendron in the second period after he was tripped up on this drive to the net pic.twitter.com/eUQhEPy680
— Madeline Campbell (@madelinecampbll) April 19, 2025
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He remained down on the ice for a bit, and then skated off under his own power — albeit stiffly — and went down the tunnel.
Gendron came back out with just a couple of minutes left in the period to test out his leg during the stoppage, taking a twirl around the far end of the ice and leaning on that left leg, but didn’t appear pleased with the feeling — he exited the ice slumped over, and headed back down the tunnel with a slam of his stick on the boards. He didn’t return for the third period.
If Gendron is going to miss any significant amount of time, this would be a huge loss to the Phantoms. As it stands, he’s tied for the team lead in goals scored (with 20) and has been a key cog in making their offense work, and work with pace. The team is lucky to have gained some significant reinforcements over the last couple of weeks, and they do have some notable depth to work with, but Gendron’s loss would still be felt in a big way.