Phantoms win 10th consecutive game
The series continues tonight at 7 and the weekend finale is Sunday at 1 p.m.
MARQUETTE, Mich. -- Alden Hirschfeld scored two goals and Ryan Zapolski made 30 saves to lead the Mahoning Valley Phantoms to a 4-2 win over the Marquette Rangers for their 10th consecutive victory.
"With the long travel and the holiday, we could not have scripted a better outcome," Phantoms coach Bob Mainhardt said. "We hung in early, took the crowd out of the game and then took charge."
Rangers score first
The Rangers took a 1-0 lead on Nic Weight's power play goal at 5:52 of the first period. The Phantoms (16-7-1) evened the score on a five-on-three advantage. Chris Fairbanks fed a loose puck to Doug Leaverton on the right point. Leaverton then floated a pass to Brent Dexter on the right goal line. Dexter faced the net and flipped the puck high over the stick of Rangers netminder Stephen Ritter for his ninth tally of the season with 8:57 gone in the period.
Hirschfeld gave the Phantoms a 2-1 lead with 3:28 elapsed in the second period, then Adam Snead extended the Phantoms' lead in the third period on another power play at the 8:10 mark.
Snead leads NAHL defensemen in scoring with three.
Late in the period, Hirschfeld was exiting the penalty box when Johnny Meo stole the puck in the Phantoms zone and lobbed it through the neutral zone. Hirschfeld controlled the puck at the Rangers blue line and skated in on an uncontested breakaway.
At the last second, Hirschfeld moved from left to right and attempted to beat Ritter around his left leg.
Ritter extended his leg and blocked the puck with his skate, but injured his groin on the play. The puck sat on its side in front of Ritter, who was hunched over in pain to the left of the goal.
Races to loose puck
Hirschfeld skated back and beat two Rangers to the loose puck, backhanding the rebound into an open net for his seventh goal of the season with 1:20 left in the game. Ritter was replaced by Matt Brooker.
Nick Kosinski scored with 39 seconds remaining for Marquette to close out the scoring. Jake Hauswirth assisted both Ranger goals. Marquette's winless streak was extended to seven games (0-6-1) as their record fell to 9-12-2.
The series continues tonight at 7 and the weekend finale is Sunday at 1 p.m. Both games will be webcast on www.mvpphantoms.com.