Graham’s playoff effort big

Mahoning Valley will travel to Northern Lights Arena on Thursday for Game 3.

BOARDMAN — Derek Graham notched a pair and Garrett Bartus turned aside 38 shots Saturday to lead the Mahoning Valley Phantoms to a 5-2 playoff win over Alpena.

The Game 2 win in their best-of-five North American Hockey League series came before more than 1000 fans at the Ice Zone.

“Obviously tonight, Graham was able to bust out of a little miniature slump there and get a couple goals which is good to see,” said Phantoms coach Bob Mainhardt.

Although Alpena’s Bryan Ross opened the scoring at 3:40 into the game, it was the Phantoms that owned the opening period.

Nick Kenney tallied his first career playoff goal, deflecting a Robert Harrison shot from the point between the legs of goaltender Nick Graves to tie things up at 1-1.

After getting a pass from Grant Blakey in the neutral zone, Graham, the Phantoms’ scoring leader, beat the lone defenseman and slid home a shorthanded goal at 14:26 to catapult Mahoning Valley out to a 2-1 advantage.

Less than three minutes later, on the power play, Stefan Salituro banged home a loose puck in the crease for his first career playoff goal. Verbeek and Bailey assisted, putting the Phantoms up 3-1 after 20 minutes.

A single-handed effort from Johnny Meo pushed the Phantoms lead to 4-1 late in the second period.

Meo’s second of the playoffs came after an Alpena miscue at their own blue line. Meo earned a breakaway after winning a race to the puck, deked Graves to the left, and slotted a backhand.

Graham’s second goal came 2:35 into the third period. Hirschfeld and Blakey picked up assists.

Alpena’s Isaac Viau rounded out the scoring, chipping a shorthanded goal past Bartus while holding off two Phantoms defenders.

“I thought we executed much better than last night,” Mainhardt said. “We knew Alpena was going to come hard and play a full 60 minutes. We rebounded nicely from that first goal, reacted very well, and played the game we wanted to play.”

Mahoning Valley will travel to Northern Lights Arena for Game 3 against the Ice Diggers on Thursday.

Game 4, if necessary, will be Friday, also in Alpena. The opening face-off both nights is slated for 7 p.m.