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BANDITS ALMOST STEAL ONE
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By John Kovach
Erik Higby’s goal in the extra session gave the Phantoms a 4-3 win over St. Louis
YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning Valley Phantoms put on an outstanding display of offensive and defensive amateur hockey during the first two periods Friday night in their official debut at the Chevrolet Centre.
But they almost were ruined by a horrible third period that forced them into an overtime session, where they had to be rescued in the waning seconds by Erik Higby.
The final result: The Phantoms made up for their 5-2 loss to St. Louis in last season’s North American Hockey League championship game by outlasting the Bandits, 4-3, in overtime before an announced attendance of 1,688 fans.
The win — thanks to Higby, a forward from Shelby Township, Mich., who fired in the winning goal with 46 seconds left in the extra session on an assist from Carl Nielsen — enabled Mahoning Valley to continue its best start of its six years in the NAHL.
Higby’s goal enabled the Phantoms to survive the Bandits’ three-goal comeback in the third period, after the locals had taken a 2-0 lead.
The two teams play a rematch at 7:15 tonight at the Chevrolet Center, following the Youngstown State-John Carroll regular-season hockey matchup at 3 p.m.
Fans will be able to see both games for $8.50.
The Phantoms, who are replacing the Youngstown SteelHounds at the Chevrolet Centre this season, will play 21 home games at the downtown arena.
Higby, who now has four goals with five assists for 10 points, explained how his winning goal materialized.
“Carl Nielsen took a shot and it rebounded off the goalie’s pad and [the puck] came right to my stick,” said Higby, who was then positioned right in front of the net. “I put [the puck] right through [the goalie’s] legs. He was moving sideways and I took a chance and put it through his legs.”
Coach Bob Mainhardt was pleased with the Phantoms’ strong start, but then said his team fell apart in the final period.
“We got away from our game plan. We lost our discipline. That allowed St. Louis to get back into the game,” said Mainhardt. “We definitely helped them with lazy penalties that helped to break our flow in the game.”
Mahoning Valley (10-4-2), which holds second place in the NAHL North Division with 22 points, dominated the offensive attack for the first two periods and kept St. Louis (16-3-1) at bay on the defensive end by outshooting the Bandits, 14-4, including 9-1 in the second period.
The Phantoms’ defense was so effective through the first two periods that goaltender Jordan Tibbett had the luxury to be completely prepared when the Bandits did mound an attack on goal.
St. Louis managed to get off only eight shots over that two-period span, which Tibbett alertly fielded and repulsed.
Meanwhile, Kyle Verbeek and Robert Harrison gave the Phantoms their strong start by each scoring a goal in the first and second periods to stake their team to a 2-0 command entering the finale, where the Bandits regrouped on offense to become a different team.
The Phantoms’ and Tibbett’s holiday was over at 11:20 of the third period when Grant Gorczyca scored on assists from Andrew Hamburg and Clinton Bourbonais and Blake Edwards to pull the Bandits within 2-1.
However, back came the Phantoms at 9:50 when George Saad found the net at 9:50 on an assist by Alex Lippincott, rebuilding the Mahoning Valley lead to 3-1.
That was Saad’s seventh goal of the season and he now has 11 points with his four assists.
The lead was short-lived as the Bandits came right back at 10:36 when Hamburg connected on an assist from Edwards to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Then St.Louis called timeout with 1:36 left and came out and mounted a relentless assault on Tibbett, who impressively repelled one shot after another.
But eventually one of the shots found the inside of the net — Bourbonais’ unassisted in-close tap-in with 15 seconds left — to tie the score at 3-3 and create a five-minute overtime.
Both teams took 18 shots in the third period, but that still left the Phantoms still with a 32-22 shots advantage for regulation.
kovach@vindy.com