Phantoms get iced in Indy

Staff report

indianapolis

The Indiana Ice jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first 31 minutes of Friday’s game, and the Youngstown Phantoms were unable to chip away in time, falling 5-2 in the Pepsi Coliseum.

Dylan Margonari and JT Stenglein scored for the Phantoms (16-7-2, fourth East), but an 0-for-5 night on the power play helped secure the victory for Indiana (16-7-4, second East).

The Phantoms, buoyed by three power plays, outshot Indiana 12-5 in the first period, but the Ice made the most of what few chances they had. At the 10:25 mark, Emil Romig found Justin Bailey sneaking into the slot and he swept the puck past Matthew O’Connor to give Indiana a 1-0 lead. The Phantoms had a plethora of opportunities in the remainder of the period, but Jon Gillies turned away them all and the Ice carried a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

Youngstown started the second period short-handed and went two down after a hooking call on Alex Gacek in the first minute. Daniil Tarasov capitalized on the two-man advantage and put a one-timer past O’Connor to give the Ice the two-goal lead 46 seconds into the period. Sean Kuraly made it 3-0 when he won a foot race and beat O’Connor all alone. Then John Doherty stretched the lead to four goals at the 11:05 mark.

At that point, Noreen replaced O’Connor with Sean Romeo, who shut out the Ice for the remainder of the game.