Phantoms lose in OT, now face 2 must-wins

Staff report

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA

First, the good news: The Youngstown Phantoms are still alive for a playoff berth in the United States Hockey League.

Now, for the reality: The Phantoms will be in must-win (and hope) situations for their final two home games on Friday and Saturday at the Covelli Centre.

Youngstown picked up a point in losing to Cedar Rapids, 3-2 in overtime, on Wednesday night.

The performance was a marked improvement from Tuesday’s 7-0 loss at Des Moines.

But, coupled with Waterloo’s 6-3 victory at Dubuque, the Phantoms (21-30-7, 49 points) trail Waterloo (23-28-7, 53 points) by four points.

Waterloo has home games on Friday against Green Bay and Saturday against Dubuque. If the Black Hawks win either or lose in overtime or shootout they will eliminate Youngstown.

On Wednesday, Justin Kovacs of Cedar Rapids scored the game-winning goal, on a power-play, with 49 seconds remaining in the extra period.

The unassisted goal was Kovacs’ 17th of the season.

Youngstown led 2-1 on tallies by Stephen Collins, his fifth, and Scott Mayfield, his seventh, entering the third period.

But Josiah Didier tied the game for Cedar Rapids with 8:02 remaining, and it stayed that way to force the extra period.

Sam Warning also scored for the Roughriders, a power-play goal midway through the second period.

Ben Paulides, Jiri Sekac and Ty Loney had assists for the Phantoms, and Jordan Tibbett had 29 saves.