Black Hawks defeat Phantoms, 3-2

Andrew Lamont and Scott Mayfield scored for Youngstown.

Vindicator staff report

WATERLOO, Iowa — One game after rallying back from a 2-0 first-period deficit at home, a similar hole proved too much to overcome on the road for the Youngstown Phantoms.

Friday at Young Arenam the Waterloo Black defeated the Phantoms, 3-2.

J.T. Brown and Jacob MacDonald each registered a goal and an assist for the Black Hawks.

Brown’s rebound goal at 7:41 of the third period gave the Hawks a 3-1 lead.

Phantoms defenseman Scott Mayfield brought Youngstown back within striking distance with a goal later in the frame.

After the Black Hawks (16-16-2, 34 points) killed a 51-second two-man advantage early in the third period, Brock Montpetit dished the puck to Derek Arnold, whose slapshot was stopped by Phantoms goalie Jordan Tibbett.

Brown was charging the left post and had an easy finish when the puck deflected into his wheelhouse.

Mayfield’s long-range power-play wrister off the left post with 3:02 to go kept the Phantoms’ comeback hopes alive.

But despite two offensive-zone faceoffs in the final seven seconds, the Phantoms were stymied by Waterloo and netminder C.J. Motte in the end, who made 34 saves to even his record at 11-11-0.

Youngstown (14-18-2, 28 points) outshot the Hawks 28-12 over the final 40 minutes and 36-27 for the game.

The Phantoms will conclude their brief two-game road trip tonight in Cedar Rapids. Youngstown’s current four-game road losing streak began there on New Year’s Eve with a 5-1 loss to the RoughRiders.

The two clubs traded chances back and forth through the opening 14 minutes of the game, but the Hawks broke the building tension with a power play goal on their third chance of the evening.

Just nine seconds after the advantage began, Jamie Hill deflected his seventh of the season past the outstretched right pad of Tibbett.

Defenseman MacDonald set up Hill’s tally by tossing the puck to the crease, but he had a lot more purpose behind his next attempt on goal, which found the top-left corner of the net with 1:56 left before the first intermission.

Brown’s end-to-end rush created space for MacDonald to trail the play, taking Brown’s drop pass at the top of the right circle to push the lead to 2-0.

Andrew Lamont and Jefferson Dahl, two of the Phantoms’ hottest offensive players in recent weeks, teamed up late in the second to draw Youngstown within one headed for the third.

Dahl pushed the puck to the inner edge of the right circle, where Lamont deposited his eighth under the crossbar from in close against goaltender Motte with 2:20 left in the middle frame.