CONTINENTAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Phantoms suffer loss to red-hot Lightning

Detroit has won 10 straight and 15 of their last 16 games.
By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BOARDMAN -- The Detroit Lightning own the Mahoning Valley Phantom Rockets.
In fact, they own every team in the Continental Elite Hockey League.
Art Mnatsaranov scored two goals and Paul Scalisi added a goal and two assists as the Lightning skated to an 8-6 victory over the Phantom Rockets Sunday at The Ice Zone.
It was the Lightning's 10th-straight victory and the 15th time in the last 16 outings they have walked off the ice victorious.
The Lightning improved their league-leading best mark to 25-4-0 while the Phantom Rockets fell to 8-22-0. It was the Rockets' fourth straight loss and the seventh in their last eight contests.
"I really didn't like the way that we played tonight," Detroit coach John Tucker said. "A win is a win and we'll take that, but we put offense over defense tonight and that bothers me.
"Offense doesn't win games, defense does," Tucker said. "I just don't like seeing that many goals scored. We did nothing to help our goaltender tonight defensively."
Young Phantom goalie
Lightning goaltender Anthony Luckow is just 15 years old. In his first start of the season, he allowed six Phantom Rocket goals but rejected 35 Mahoning Valley shots in the process.
Overall, Tucker seemed to be pleased with his play.
"We have two 15-year olds on the team and both played a significant role in our win tonight," Tucker said. "Neither Luckow nor Jo-Jo Bojanowski get to play very much and they both took advantage of their start tonight."
Bojanowski got the Lightning on the board first with help from Ross Brother, scoring at 9:02 of the opening period.
When Brian Gibes and Paul Scalisi added goals for Detroit at 15:03 and 17:26 respectively, it gave Detroit an early 3-0 advantage.
The Phantom Rockets' Scott Kochniarzyk (assisted by Mike Hanna and Tyler Miller) scored 28 seconds later to trim the lead to 3-1 after one period.
"We had quite a few scoring opportunities tonight but couldn't seem to cash in," Phantom Rockets coach Bob Hawthorne said. "After a long weekend that saw us play five games in three days at the C.E.H.L. Showcase, then two road contests before today, I thought that we had an excellent overall effort."
Phantoms cut lead
Marcus Hernandez, a Californian playing in his first home game for the Phantom Rockets (and just his third contest overall), cut the Detroit lead to 3-2 in the second period with a goal at 5:46. The Lightning responded at 9:30 when a Justin Lopez shorthanded goal increased the Lightning lead to 4-2.
"Marcus is a very smart player who works hard in both practice and in a game," Hawthorne said. "When he gets comfortable with our system, he'll do that much better for us."
A Shane Jackman unassisted goal at 11:16 pulled the Phantom Rockets to within a goal at 4-3, but two unanswered goals by the Lightning, the first by Mnatsaranov (13:05) and John Onofrey (16:42), staked the visitors to a 6-3 lead.
"The Phantom Rockets are an excellent team despite their record," Tucker said. "They work hard for 60 solid minutes so we knew that a 6-3 lead heading into the final period was by no means safe."
True to Tucker's statement, Hanna scored a power play goal at 1:40 to cut the Detroit lead to 6-4, but Steve Sabo and Mnatsaranov added goals just 33 seconds apart for a 8-4 Lightning lead.