Saturday, March 19, 2005
Youngstown tied the Cleveland Barons for the final playoff berth.
BOARDMAN -- The Youngstown Phantoms find themselves in a must-win situation in their final five regular season games if they expect to make it to the postseason.
The Cleveland Barons are in the same boat.
Derek Roehl's hat trick and Jerry Kuhn's 41 saves in goal lifted the Phantoms to a 5-1 victory over the Barons Friday night in a North American Hockey League game at The Ice Zone.
The Phantoms (25-23-3, 53 points) tied the Barons (25-26-3, 53 points) for the fourth and final playoff spot in the league's North Division, much to the delight of coach Bob Mainhardt.
With a sigh of relief, Mainhardt noted how Youngstown had dropped three straight and six of its last seven outings this season to the Barons.
Youth
"This is a long season and you tend to get away from some of the things that win you games over the course of the year," Mainhardt said. "We're still a young team and sometimes we forget to do those little things.
"We feel like we've pretty much had the upper hand on the Barons this season despite our head-to-head record with them," Mainhardt said. "They do have the upper hand on us in one area and that is in taking advantage of breaks when they are presented. They have been more opportunistic with our mistakes than we have been with theirs."
The Phantoms definitely held the upper hand in opportunities that were presented to them Friday.
The Phantoms scored one of their five goals shorthanded, added a goal on a powerplay opportunity then kept the Barons from penetrating their net on eight power play opportunities, one of those a 5-on-3 advantage.
"Jerry [Kuhn] was magnificent in goal," Mainhardt said. "He has really played excellent for us of late. He's just two days away from his 19th birthday but tonight he gave us an early present with his play in net. We really needed that."
Early lead
The Barons got on the board first at the 11:31 mark of the opening period when Nick Biondo took a Carter Camper pass and placed it past Kuhn.
Roehl knotted the score just 1:01 later with the first of his three goals, this score coming on the first of three assists from Jeremy Smith, along with Andy Fiore.
Owen Meyer's ninth goal of the season at 11:45 of the second period gave the Phantoms the lead for good (2-1), and when Roehl added his ninth (10:12) and 10th (:10) goals of the year, the Phantoms' advantage increased to 4-1.
Aaron Rhyner registered his team leading 32nd goal of the season with 3:52 remaining in the third period to round out the scoring.
The Barons held a 43-42 edge in shots on goal despite being out shot 13-5 in the opening frame. They held a 20-13 advantage in the final period.
The Phantoms, needing three wins in their final five outings to secure a playoff spot, will play host to the Toledo Ice Diggers tonight at 7 p.m. at The Ice Zone.