Power plays ice Phantoms

Photo by: Rami Daud

The Vindicator (Youngstown)

Photo

Mike Ambrosia of the Phantoms races Jarrod Rabey of the Indiana Ice to the puck.

By TOM WILLIAMS

williams@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Special teams breakdowns late in the second period were a major factor on Tuesday as the Youngstown Phantoms’ losing streak grew to five.

Sean Kuraly’s shorthanded goal and Daniil Tarasov’s power-play tally in the final five minutes of the middle period gave the Indiana Ice a two-goal advantage during their 7-2 penalty-filled victory at the Covelli Centre.

Those goals plus Adam Erne’s even-strength tally with 6:40 to go in that frame wiped out the Phantoms’ 2-1 lead and had Youngstown scrambling.

The Ice added a pair of power-play tallies early in the third period to turn the contest into a rout.

“We started shooting the puck more,” said Ice defenseman Brandon Russo who was traded from Youngstown to Indiana on Dec. 10. “In the first period, we didn’t have too many shots.

“But in the second and third periods, we got pucks to the net, we were driving to the net hard and we weren’t turning the puck over much,” Russo said.

The Phantoms were without forwards Quinn Smith and Jiri Sekac whose travel plans were disrupted by the East Coast blizzard.

The Phantoms (9-15-1, 19 points) failed on all eight of their power-play chances while the Ice (12-10-2, 26 points) connected on four of nine opportunities.

“We played a very good first 30 [minutes],” Phantoms coach Curtis Carr said. “They got sort of a fluky goal and that sort of took the wind out of our sails. They ran their power play effectively.”

With the Phantoms skating with an extra man in a 2-2 tie, a Phantoms’ shot bounced off an Ice defender to center ice where Sean Kuraly was lurking. Kuraly broke in on Phantoms’ goalie Matt O’Connor and beat him with a backhanded shot,

Moments later, Phantoms defenseman Ben Paulides was penalized for interference when he bounced Kuraly to the ice with a hip check. That set up an Ice power-play goal by Daniil Tarasov for a 4-2 lead.

“We didn’t respond well after that,” Carr said.

A two-man advantage had the Phantoms in deep trouble early in the third period. Jarrod Rabey scored the Ice’s fifth goal.

Before Phantoms forward Mike Ambrosia could escape the penalty box, Blake Coleman’s second power-play goal made it 6-2.

Coleman’s first goal gave the Ice a 1-0 lead. Dylan Margonari and Ryan Belonger then scored for the Phantoms.