Hot start lifts St. Louis past Phantoms, 6-3

ST. LOUIS — St. Louis scored the first three goals of the game, then traded scores with Mahoning Valley the rest of the way, to defeat the Phantoms, 6-3, in a North American Hockey League game Saturday night.

Andrew Hamburg opened the scoring for the Bandits with a goal just 3 minutes, 51 seconds into the first period.

Mike Hull made it 2-0 when he scored for St. Louis with 7:43 remaining in the period.

The Bandits’ David Makowski made it 3-0 with 12:29 remaining in the second period, before the Phantoms tried to rally.

Brian McGinty scored for Mahoning Valley with 11:49 to go in the second period, but Ben Warda answered for the Bandits with 9:17 to go.

The Phantoms’ Chad Boekman made it 4-2 with a goal with 1:38 remaining in the second period.

St. Louis made it 5-2 with 6:53 remaining in the game on a goal by Tom Brooks, but the Phantoms’ Grant Blakey cut the deficit to two goals, 5-3, with 5:11 remaining.

But, the Bandits’ Mike Leone closed out the scoring with 1:58 to go.

St. Louis outshot the Phantoms, 37-34, and both teams were 0-for-3 on the power play.

Stefan Salituro had two assists for Mahoning Valley. Garrett Bartus had 31 saves for the Phantoms.

Both teams were penalized five times.

The Phantoms play host to St. Louis next weekend at the Ice Zone.