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Gamblers’ McKay blanks Phantoms
By Tom Williams
YOUNGSTOWN
Mere inches made a huge difference in the Youngstown Phantoms’ 2-0 loss to Green Bay on Friday at the Covelli Centre.
During two second-period power-play chances, the Phantoms had shots by Cody Strang and Adam Berkle ring off the goal post and crossbar behind Gamblers goalie Ryan McKay.
Later in the period, Stu Higgins had a look at an open net but shot the puck into the side of the net.
Had one of those chances gone in, Phantoms coach Curtis Carr said its affect on the game would have been “huge, especially the ones that were back-to-back.”
McKay (3-1-1) made 28 saves. Carr said four other shots clanged off the posts.
“Shutouts are few and far between,” said McKay whose reaction to the shots off the metal “is to tap the posts.
“I sure said thank you to the goal posts on those,” the second-year USHL goalie said. “Sometimes you’ve got to make your own breaks, sometimes you just get lucky.”
Phantoms goalie Matt O’Connor made 40 saves.
“We came out a little but flat, I won’t deny that,” Carr said. “We’re going through some growing pains right now.”
About eight minutes into the game, the Gamblers’ Alex Broadhurst was alone to O’Connor’s right and took a feed from Nolan LaPorte. Broadhurst took two strides towards the net then beat O’Connor with snapshot.
Eighty seconds later, the score was 2-0 when Travis Lynch scored on an assist from Grant Arnold.
“We came out real well in the first period and maybe caught them by surprise a little bit,” said Gamblers coach Eric Rud whose team lost here 3-2 on Oct. 16. “They are a very good hockey team and they came back storming in the second period.”
Carr agreed.
“Five on five, I thought we outplayed them the last 40 [minutes],” Carr said. “We had six, seven Grade A chances to score. The bounces just weren’t there.”
Rud had a similar reaction.
“We got lucky in the second period to get a few bounces,” Rud said. “The third period, I thought we got back on top of our game.”
Carr praised his players’ “compete level and willingness to battle. When we play our style of hockey, I think we’re pretty good.”
The Gamblers (5-2-1, 11 points) are in first place in the Eastern Division and now have a three-point lead over the Phantoms (4-5-0, 8 points).
Carr said he’s hoping forward Ty Loney, who leads the Phantoms with four goals, will be able to play next week. He will not suit up for tonight’s game at 7:30 against the Des Moines Buccaneers (1-1-2, four points), the division’s last-place team.
“We’re not 100 percent [healthy] and that’s kind of in the back of their minds,” Carr said. “But no excuses, we’ve got to get better.”