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Phantoms put it all together with 6-3 victory
Gallery
By John Kovach
Six different players scored for Mahoning Valley, four others had assists and Jordan Tibbett stopped 25 shots.
YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning Valley Phantoms’ hockey team turned in the quintessential team effort in all phases of play — on offense, defense and goal tending — Saturday night at the Chevrolet Centre against the Motor City Machine.
Six different players got into the scoring act while four others chipped in with assists, and goalie Jordan Tibbett turned back 25 shots, to lead the Phantoms to a 6-3 win over the Machine in a North American Hockey League game.
The Phantoms (22-8-3), who also beat the Machine Friday, 5-3, solidified their hold on first place in the North Division with 47 points, ahead of Traverse City, which entered the night with 41 points (18-9-5). Motor City Machine (6-25-1) has 13 points for fifth and last place.
The Phantoms received goals from Michael Gunn, Brandon Saad, Jordy Trottier, Doug Clifford, Cullen Lundholm and George Saad, while Nick Kenney, Erik Higby, Nick Shkreli and George Saad were credited with assists to achieve a near-perfect team offensive performance.
“Actually, this is a common thing for this team,” said Phantoms’ coach Bob Mainhardt of the multiple-player attack. “We have a tendency to spread [the offense] around. And that’s good because other teams can’t key on any one player. We have four lines that have the ability to score.”
Mainhardt said his well-distributed attack was not planned.
“It just happens that way because we have a lot of good players. We don’t have any weak sisters. At this level there is so much talent that everyone can contribute,” said the coach.
But Tibbett really had to work hard to preserve the Phantoms’ win, because the Machine wouldn’t quit and consistently sprayed him with pucks in the net.
“Jordan Tibbet did a great job in goal. He made some big saves when we needed them. He and [other Phantoms’ goalie] Garrett Bartus both are doing great jobs. We feel that we have two of the top goalies in the league,” said Mainhardt.
The Machine was led by Josh Bussell who had two goals and one assist, while Adam Sponseller contributed a goal and assist.
The Phantoms broke an early scoreless deadlock late in the first period when Michael Gunn scored a goal with 14 seconds left on an assist from Nick Kenney.
Then the two teams combined for five goals in the second period.
The Machine struck first in the second as Bussell connected with a power play goal on assists from Sponseller and Nick Taurence with 13:37 remaining to tie the score at 1-1.
But the Phantoms came right back when Brandon Saad tallied on a power play goal with 12:32 left on an assist from Higby to give the locals a 2-1 lead.
Then the Phantoms scored again with 8:14 remaining when Trottier found the net assisted by Shkreli to boost the lead to 3-1.
Clifford increased the Phantoms lead to 4-1 when he scored an unassisted goal at 17:35.
But the Machine retaliated seconds later as Sponseller tallied a goal on assists from Alec Thieda and Bussell at 18:37 to cut the Phantoms’ lead to 4-2 entering the final period.
There, the Phantoms increased the lead to 5-2 when Lundholm scored an unassisted goal at 13:26.
But the Machine wouldn’t quit and Bussell slammed in a long, line-drive shot right into the back of the net with 7:14 left to slice the Phantoms’ lead to 5-3.
However, the Phantoms finished off the Machine in the waning seconds as George Saad connected into an empty net on an assist from Stefan Salituro with less than three seconds left to make it 6-3.
The Phantoms outshot the Machine, 31-28, while Machine goalie Matthew Delaney had 26 saves.
kovach@vindy.com