Phantoms flip Rangers to jump into first place

By John Kovach

YOUNGSTOWN — Outstanding team play enabled the Mahoning Valley Phantoms to seize sole possession of first place in the NAHL North Division Saturday night at the Chevrolet Centre.

The Phantoms did it with five different players scoring goals and the strong goaltending of Garrett Bartus. All translated into a 5-2 victory over the Marquette Rangers, knocking them into second place.

Johnny Meo, Michael Pateras, Nick Shkreli, Brandon Saad and Stefan Salituro scored for the Phantoms while Bartus turned back 29 shots.

The netminder was especially tough the first two periods as the Phantoms held a 2-1 lead before punching in three unanswered goals.

It was the Phantoms’ first win over Marquette (17-7-2, 36 points) this season after two losses (both 5-2 scores), including Friday’s opener of their two-game series.

Mahoning Valley will be off this week before returning to the Chevrolet Centre ice on Dec. 28-29 against the Alpena Ice Diggers at 7:15 p.m.

“We know that we have the depth,” Phantoms coach Bob Mainhardt said. “We worked harder tonight than [Friday] night. All 20 guys were working the hardest.

“We created opportunities, not like [Friday] night. There was nothing that [Rangers’ goalie Kevin Kissaw] could do. There were openings in the net. Our physical play in the shooting lanes set up our goals.”

Kissaw had 18 saves, but was overwhelmed in the final period.

Bartus continued his strong play in the net, although his record (4-4) doesn’t show it.

“The last couple of games, [Bartus] has played well but has not had the support he deserves. It was nice to see him get that support tonight,” said Mainhardt, whose team got off to a strong start.

Meo opened the scoring early with his fourth goal of the season on assists from Salituro and Pateras to give the Phantoms a 1-0 lead.

Then Pateras got into the scoring act with his second goal of the year with 4:09 left in the first on Salituro’s assist.

In the second period, the Rangers bounced back on Chad Pietila’s goal at 4:28 on assists from Mike Lennon and Aaron Pietila (Chad’s brother) to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Marquette then went on to blank Mahoning Valley in the second period while outshooting the Phantoms by 12-5, before the Phantoms broke open the game.

First, Shkreli connected with his fourth goal of the season at 14:55 with assists from Trottier and Brandon Saad.

Saad tallied his team-leading 11th goal at 11:37 with assists from Shkreli and Trottier, for a 4-1 advantage.

Salituro’s seventh goal of the year made it 5-1 at 9:42. It was unassisted goal.

The Rangers got the final goal from Dustin Partacz with assists from Chad Pietila and Ryan McGrath at 9:20.

kovach@vindy.com