Phantoms strike early to record 3-2 triumph over U.S. Nationals

By Greg Gulas

Mahoning Valley snapped a two-game losing streak and won its seventh game of the season.

BOARDMAN — The Mahoning Valley Phantoms scored three times in the first period and never really looked back as they defeated the U.S. Nationals, 3-2 to earn a series split Saturday in North American Hockey League action at the Ice Zone.

The win broke a two-game losing streak for the Phantoms (7-2-1, 15 points) while the U.S. Nationals (7-6-1, 15 points) saw their modest three-game win streak fall by the wayside.

It also enabled Mahoning Valley to pull back into a second-place tie with their North Division foes. Both squads still trail division-leading Traverse City (11-2-0, 22 points), who was idle.

“We were able to set the tempo early and played well for 50 minutes,” Mahoning Valley coach Bob Mainhardt said. “We still have trouble, however, sticking to the game plan and that goes from goalie to the five skaters on the ice.

“What helped us tonight was the fact that we took advantage of our opportunities early; unlike last night,” Mainhardt said.

“We still need to learn how to deal with the valleys and bad bounces, something that we haven’t really done thus far,” Mainhardt said.

John Houston and Michael Pateras assisted on Kyle Verbeek’s first goal of the season at 10:43 of the opening period for the early Phantoms. lead,

When Nick Shkreli added his first goal of the campaign at 16:24, Mahoning Valley had a two-goal margin.

Doug Clifford’s unassisted goal (18:43) about two minutes later, his fourth of the year, gave the Phantoms a three-goal cushion.

Mahoning Valley outshot the U.S. Nationals, 12-7 in the opening stanza.

After a scoreless second period that saw the Phantoms outshot by a 10-8 count, it looked like it would be all Phantoms the rest of the way.

Then Bjorn Krupp nailed his wrister (his first goal of the season) with about three minutes to play, cutting the Phantoms’ lead to 3-1.

Until Krupp’s goal, the Phantoms had held the U.S Nationals without a score for nearly 74.minutes.

Austin Czarnik’s unassisted goal, with the aid of an extra attacker at 19:59, rounded out the scoring but it was too little, too late for Mahoning Valley’s divisional foe.

“Tonight we were able to capitalize on our chances, not like last night,” Bartus said. “We wanted to get the puck deep, ne physical and then go to work and I felt like we did just that in all three areas,” Bartus said.

The U.S. Nationals outhsot the Phantoms, 32-26 as neither team could cash in on the power play. The Phantoms were 0 for 6 while Team U.S.A. was 0-9; the latter going 0-15 for the weekend when faced with a man advantage.

Mahoning Valley returns to the ice on Friday when they travel to Traverse City for the first of a three-game set against the North Stars.

Game time is 7:05 p.m.