Burn the film; Phantoms blown out by Des Moines

Staff report

URBANDALE, IOWA

This one was ugly.

The Youngstown Phantoms began the final week of the regular season three points out of the final playoff spot in the United States Hockey League’s Eastern Division.

They needed a win on Tuesday night, or at least an overtime point, to get the week off to a good start.

Instead, the Phantoms had perhaps their worst game of the season, losing 7-0 to the Des Moines Buccaneers.

Dan DeSalvo scored a pair of goals and had two assists for the Buccaneers (29-24-6, 64 points), who are battling for the sixth and final spot in the USHL’s Western Conference.

Peter Stoykewych, Kevin Irwin and Ethan Prow added a goal and an assist each for Cedar Rapids, which removed all doubt in this game with a five-goal explosion in the second period.

The Phantoms (21-31-6, 48 points) remained three points behind Waterloo for sixth place in the East.

Youngstown will travel to Cedar Rapids tonight, then close out the regular season at the Covelli Centre against Indiana on Friday and Chicago on Saturday.

Those last two might not matter if Waterloo beats Dubuque tonight and the Phantoms have another performance like Tuesday’s.

Youngstown was outshot 40-25 and went 0 for 5 on the power play.

Phantoms’ Nilan Nagy, Scott Mayfield and Ben Paulides were all minus-4 on the ice.

Goalie Jordan Tibbett played the entire game, allowing all seven goals.

About the only positive for Youngstown was its power play defense. The Phantoms turned away all seven of Des Moines’ chances with a man advantage.

The game started innocently enough, with Justin Selman’s goal with 13:20 remaining the only point of the first period.

But DeSalvo scored twice in the second period onslaught. Stoykewych, Irwin and Dajon Mingo also scored, and Prow’s goal with 7:49 remaining finished off the Phantoms.