Phantoms seize the lead over Alpena, never let go

ALPENA, Mich. — The Mahoning Valley Phantoms got up early and never relented, matching their season-high in goals in a 6-1 romp over the Alpena IceDiggers on Friday night.

Leading 1-0 after the first period on Alex Lippincott’s eighth goal of the season, the Phantoms rattled off four second-period tallies to seize a 5-0 lead after 40 minutes.

Nick Kenney opened the flood gates in the second period, slamming home a Jordy Trottier power play centering feed past Alpena goaltender Nick Graves 5:04 into the frame.

Lippincott followed 23 seconds later, firing an IceDigger turnover past Graves for a 3-0 Phantoms lead.

After nine minutes of even play between the two sides, Phantom forward Brandon Saad sped up the left side of the Alpena zone past defenseman Jerrod Hartman then deked past the rotation defense of Kyle Hughes, waited out Graves and shelved it for his 16th goal of the year.

Stefan Salituro capped the second period outburst when he slid a wrist shot under Graves’ glove for his ninth of the 2008-2009 campaign.

Doug Clifford scored the Phantoms’ final goal 1:17 into the third.

Mahoning Valley goaltender Garrett Bartus lost his bid at his first shutout of the season with 13:30 left in the game when Mike DeGrazia lined a one-timer in for the final 6-1 margin.

The win kept the Phantoms (25-10-3, 53 pts) two points ahead of the Traverse City North Stars (23-9-5, 51 pts) for first place in the North Division. The North Stars dropped the Motor City Machine 5-1 on Friday to keep pace in the division.

The Phantoms and IceDiggers close out January with the back-end of their two-game series on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Northern Lights Arena.

The game will be broadcast locally on WBBW-AM 1240 and at MVPPhantoms.com via B2 Networks. The pregame show will begin at 6:45 p.m.