43
Prosperity denied
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
Photo
Phantom Mike Ambrosia moves in to score Wednesday night. He was defended by Andrew Miller of the Des Moines Buccaneers.
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
Photo
Conner Kucera of the Des Moines Buccaneers fights for possession of the puck against Phantom Ty Loney.
GAME TIME
Next: Youngstown
at Indiana Ice, Friday, 6:05 p.m.
Two extra skaters helped Des Moines overcome a 3-0 deficit and send the Phantoms to their sixth straight loss
By Tom Williams
YOUNGSTOWN
Two-man advantages in the third period don’t happen every day in hockey. Twice in one game compounds that rarity.
Wednesday at the Covelli Centre, the Des Moines Buccaneers took full advantage of both of their two-man chances in a 5-4 victory over the Youngstown Phantoms.
Later in the final period, the Phantoms had two extra skaters for 92 seconds and had several chances to tie the game. In the final minute, the Phantoms had another power play and were able to replace goaltender Matt O’Connor with an extra skater.
“We’re not scoring goals on our power play, it’s been non-existent, so generating those opportunities was great,” Phantoms coach Curtis Carr said. “[Des Moines goaltender Michael] Shibowski came up big for them and made some key saves for them down the stretch, especially in tight on those two [power plays].
“We probably had eight shots and he was there for each one.”
After Tuesday’s dismal 7-2 loss to Indiana, the Phantoms (9-16-1, 19 points) responded with a strong start, jumping out to a 3-0 lead. But the Buccaneers (11-8-2, 24 points) bounced back to tie the game in the second period.
Forty seconds before the second intermission, Jiri Sekac’s power-play goal put the Phantoms back in front and the Phantoms were poised to end a five-game losing streak.
Sekac, who missed Tuesday’s game because of travel issues, was parked on the doorstep of Shibrowski and connected after taking a cross-ice pass from Cody Strang.
But the lift was short-lived.
With Mike Ambrosia and Ben Paulides in the penalty box seconds into the third period, Doug Clifford pounced on a rebound from Austin Coldwell’s blue-line shot and slipped it past O’Connor to tie the game. Eighteen seconds later, Mitch Cain’s power-play goal put the Buccaneers ahead for the first time.
During the Phantoms’ two-man advantage, Strang shot the puck off the inside of a goalpost, but the puck deflected away from the net.
“Last night, we just got outplayed completely,” said Strang who scored the Phantoms’ second goal. “Tonight, I thought we outplayed them for the most part. We took a couple of bad penalties and we couldn’t finish. We needed to put a few [shots] home.”
Following Tuesday’s loss, Carr had a long talk with his players. The response was two goals in the first four minutes of Wednesday’s game and a 3-0 lead late in the third period.
“I thought we played hard,” Carr said. “Our power play wasn’t scoring but at least we were generating opportunities on it for the first time in a while. We gave ourselves a chance to win.”
Mike Ambrosia’s breakaway goal 33 seconds into the game opened the scoring. About three minutes later, Strang on an assist by Sekac beat Shibrowski on the Phantoms’ third shot.
Ten minutes later, the Phantoms cashed in on their second power-play chance when Ty Loney knocked a rebound of a Strang shot past Shibrowski for a 3-0 lead.
Moments later, the lead was down to two when Kevin Irwin snapped the puck past O’Connor.
The Buccaneers’ second goal came with just 11 seconds into a two-man advantage. They tied it on a two-on-one breakaway, with Cain scoring on a pass from Justin Selman.
“We’re stressing a little bit and it showed late in the game,” Carr said.