Kolosov Stops Career-High 39 Shots as Phantoms Top Crunch 4-1

Aleksei Kolosov faced nearly everything the Syracuse Crunch threw at him Friday night and turned aside all but one. The Lehigh Valley Phantoms goaltender stopped a career-high 39 shots as the Phantoms rolled to a 4-1 road victory over the Crunch on March 13, 2026, delivering what the team described as one of his strongest performances of the season.

The 39-save effort sets a new personal benchmark for the 24-year-old Minsk native, surpassing his previous career highs in AHL action with Lehigh Valley. Kolosov absorbed a heavy workload against Syracuse, facing a shot volume that would have tested any goaltender on the road, and held firm while the Phantoms offense converted enough to make the result comfortable.

The performance adds another notable chapter to what has been a standout 2025-26 campaign for Kolosov. Earlier this season, the Phantoms backstop earned the Howies Hockey Tape/AHL Player of the Week award for the period ending January 4, 2026, after stopping 60 of 61 shots across two starts. That week included a 31-save shutout of the Hershey Bears on Wednesday and a 29-save performance in a 6-1 win at Toronto on Sunday, the latter coming on his 24th birthday. He was named the game's first star in both contests, posting a .984 save percentage and a 0.50 goals-against average for the period.

Through 18 appearances with Lehigh Valley as of that January award, Kolosov carried a 9-8-1 record with a 2.51 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage, with two shutouts. He had also dressed for two games with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2025-26. Those numbers predate Friday's performance and will need updating to reflect the full scope of his season.

A third-round pick by Philadelphia in the 2021 NHL Draft, Kolosov entered Friday's game with a 15-15-2 career AHL record, a 2.77 goals-against average, and an .899 save percentage across 32 appearances with the Phantoms. The 39-save night in Syracuse represents the kind of performance that pushes those career numbers in a more favorable direction and reinforces his standing as one of the more reliable goaltenders in the Atlantic Division.

With the Phantoms closing out the regular season, Kolosov's March workload suggests the organization is leaning on him as a key piece of its late-season push.