Phantoms’ road skein ended, 5-1

MARQUETTE, Mich. — The Mahoning Valley Phantoms saw their three-game road winning streak snapped as they fell to the Marquette Rangers 5-1 at Lakeview Arena on Friday.

Garrett Ladd, No. 13 for the Rangers, tallied a hat trick on Friday the 13th as Marquette ended their own two-game losing skid.

The loss sees the Phantoms’ (29-11-4, 62 points) division lead slip to six points over the Traverse City North Stars (25-11-6, 56 points). The North Stars lost 3-2 in overtime to the Motor City Machine on Friday.

Marquette’s Dustin Partacz opened the scoring with 3:43 left in the first period, batting a Scott Henegar rebound past Phantoms netminder Garrett Bartus for his sixth goal of the year.

The Rangers opened the second period with two more goals, both in transition, as defenseman Kevin Gravel beat Bartus stick-side on a 3-on-1 and Ladd scored his first on a 2-on-1 to give the Rangers a 3-0 lead halfway through the contest.

Brandon Saad notched the lone marker on a 2-on-1, taking a Johnny Meo centering feed and dekeing past Rangers keeper Kevin Kissaw for his 21st goal of the year and his second of the weekend.

Saad has either scored or assisted on all four Mahoning Valley goals through two games this weekend.

Ladd capped off the scoring in the third period, burying a Collin Saint-Onge rebound in transition with 13:14 left in regulation before getting another second-chance goal on the power play with 5:51 remaining to give the Rangers the final 5-1 margin.

Bartus’ record falls to 9-6-3 with the loss; the third-year goalie from St. Charles, Ill., made 39 saves Friday.

Kissaw improved to 12-9-3 and 3-1-1 against the Phantoms, making 33 saves in the win.

The Phantoms and Rangers will play the rubber match of their three-game series at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Marquette’s Lakeview Arena.

The game will be broadcast locally on WBBW-AM 1240 and on MVPPhantoms.com.