Phantoms win first at Fall Classic

Staff report

SIOUX CITY, IOWA

The Youngstown Phantoms got a goal and two assists from J.T. Stenglein, and goaltender Matt Green made 33 saves, as the Phantoms defeated the Sioux Falls Stampede, 4-2, in the USHL Fall Classic on Friday.

The victory evened the Phantoms’ record at 1-1 in the preseason tournament, played at the Tyson Events Center.

Youngstown will play its final game of the tournament today against the Green Bay Gamblers at 2 p.m.

Stenglein got his first assist of Friday’s game just 1 minute, 59 seconds into the contest, when he fed Adam Berkle for a score. Stenglein added his goal less than three minutes later to make it 2-0, on an assist by Berkle, with 15:04 remaining in the period.

The Stampede cut the margin in half with 2:53 to go in the opening period on a power-play goal by Connor Reilly, on assists by Anthony Day and Christian Isackson.

The Phantoms got their two-goal lead back with 5:24 remaining in the second period on a power-play goal by Dylan Margonari, assisted by Steinglen.

Sioux Falls closed to 3-2 with only 10 seconds remaining in the middle period, on a power-play goal by Bryan Moore, assisted by Daniel Doremus.

The score stayed that way until only 24 seconds remained in the game, when the Phantoms’ Jiri Sekac scored an empty-net power-play goal, with assists from Cody Strang and Ben Paulides.

Youngstown was 2 for 11 on the power-play, while Sioux Falls was 2 for 9 with a man advantage. The Stampede held a 35-24 edge in shots.