Phantoms rally for shootout victory

By Greg Gulas

Mahoning Valley fell behind 3-0 before
beating Traverse City.

BOARDMAN — Prior to their game with Traverse City on Friday night, Mahoning Valley Phantoms head coach Bob Mainhardt called his upcoming three-game series with the North Stars their most critical stretch of the regular season.

A sweep of their North Division rivals would clinch second place for the Phantoms and home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Brian McGinty’s goal in the shootout session, the seventh shot of the extended period, helped lift the Phantoms to a 4-3, come-from-behind victory over the North Stars in North American Hockey League action at the Ice Zone.

The win by Mahoning Valley (31-17-4, 66 points) enabled the Phantoms to open up a five-point lead on third-place Alpena (28-22-5, 61 points), which lost a 4-3 decision to the Marquette Rangers Friday night.

“We got in trouble early and fell behind because we didn’t stick to our game plan. We got back to that game plan after the first intermission and put ourselves in position to win,” Mainhardt said.

“Jordan Tibbett came off the bench and did an excellent job in goal for us. That shows his maturity for he collected himself and was ready to go when called upon.

“Stefan [Salituro] is a gifted player and I was really happy to see him contribute with his two goals tonight,” he added.

The North Stars (21-19-12, 54 points) came into Youngstown as the hottest team in the NAHL, having won nine of their last 10 outings (9-0-1) to move into a tie with the Rangers and within one point of the USA National Team for the division’s final playoff spot.

They showed why they are the hottest team in the league as they raced to a 3-0 lead after the first 20 minutes of play.

Two goals by Kyle Bonis (9:41 and 16:24; the latter coming on a power play opportunity) helped the North Stars to the two-goal advantage and when Eric McLintock added his 10th tally of the year at 17:04, Traverse City had built a 3-0 margin heading to the first intermission despite being outshot, 10-9 in the opening session.

After Bonis’ second score, Mainhardt inserted Tibbett in goal for starter Garrett Bartus and despite giving up a tally to McLintock, the change proved to be a good one as the Phantoms slowly and methodically mounted their comeback attempt.

A power play goal by Kyle Bailey at 12:35 cut the North Star lead to 3-1, and when Salituro connected on his first goal of the game (and his ninth of the season) just 58 seconds later, the Phantoms cut the Traverse City lead to 3-2 with 20 minutes remaining.

When Salituro snuck his shot under the outstretched glove of Traverse City goalie Brandon Stephenson at 6:47 of the final period, the score proved to be enough to force the overtime session.

“If it weren’t for Stefan [Salituro], we would not have been in a position to win the game tonight. He is a great player who just keeps coming right at you,” Tibbett said.

Salituro felt the same about Tibbett’s play off the bench. “Jordan [Tibbett] is a great goalie and it was because of his play that we were able to stay close. Comeback wins are special and this was even more special because it was an overall team effort. We never quit tonight,” Salituro said.

After a scoreless overtime session, only Nate Urbaniak for Traverse City and Grant Blakey of the Phantoms could find the back of the net after six shots of the shootout session.

When Tibbett rejected the North Stars’ Kyle Jean on their seventh try, it opened the gate for McGinty’s fourth goal of the year and his first game-winner of the season.

“We’ve gone into overtime games and shootouts this season deserving to win, but fell short. That was not the case tonight. The better team won tonight,” head coach Anthony Palumbo said.

“We came out in the second period and stopped playing like we did in the opening period. Mahoning Valley came out with a big-time effort and that was the difference in the game.”

These same two teams will play the second game of their three-game series tonight at 7:15 p.m. at the Ice Zone.