43
Stars align for Phantoms
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
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Youngstown Phantom Mike Ambrosia and the Lincoln Stars' Chris Casto fight for possession of the puck.
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Youngstown Phantoms goaltender Matt O’Connor
Phantoms 4
Lincoln 3
Next: Youngstown at Chicago, today, 3 p.m.
Belonger nets winning goal for Youngstown in shootout
By Tom Williams
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown Phantoms goaltender Matt O’Connor celebrated his 19th birthday two days early by stopping 44 shots during his first game in a month.
O’Connor added three more stops during Saturday’s shootout that the Phantoms won to give them a 4-3 victory over the Lincoln Stars (19-17-3, 41 points) at the Covelli Centre.
“Right from the start from arriving at the rink, I had a lot of excitement,” said O’Connor who found out on Friday that he would get the start in goal. “It almost felt like a championship game instead of a regular-season game.”
Ryan Belonger, Jiri Sekac and Cody Strang scored in the second period for the Phantoms (15-22-4, 34 points).
The Phantoms won the shootout, 3-2, when Strang, Ty Loney and Belonger scored against Stars goalie Lukas Hafner. Belonger’s goal came moments after O’Connor stopped John McCarron’s backhand attempt to hold the Stars to two shootout goals in five tries.
“It was such a huge relief,” said O’Connor of Belonger’s goal. “We did well in the post-game [action].”
The victory was the Phantoms’ first on home ice since Jan. 22 and O’Connor’s first since Dec. 4. The goalie hadn’t played since Jan. 14 after suffering a hip flexor injury.
“It only hurt for certain movements,” said O’Connor citing left leg extensions. “I had been playing with it for about four weeks because lateral movements and going down was fine.”
Phantoms coach Curtis Carr said O’Connor sat out for about three weeks in an attempt to get healthy.
“He was frustrated, we had him off the ice for about two weeks,” Carr said. “Matt played really well.”
The Phantoms trailed 1-0 after the first period after being outshot 19-8, but Carr said the Phantoms had more scoring chances.
“They are a hard-working team, they throw pucks on net and try to crash so we stressed not letting them get to the house, to force them to shoot perimeter shots,” Carr said of the Stars.
Late in the opening period, the Stars grabbed a 1-0 lead on McCarron’s goal scored off a rebound.
The Phantoms responded with three goals in the middle period.
Belonger’s 11th goal, a power-play effort, tied the game. With Chris Casto watching from the penalty box, Mike Ambrosia found the puck near the boards and moved it ahead to Belonger in the faceoff circle to the right of Hafner. Belonger caught the Stars goalie deep in the net and found the far side.
The tie lasted about three-and-a-half minutes before the Stars’ Garrett Peterson beat O’Connor with a long shot for a 2-1 lead.
Sekac’s 12th goal tied the game 2-2 midway through the second period. Defenseman Ben Paulides initiated the goal with a shot from the point. Sekac sent the rebound past Hafner.
Strang put the Phantoms ahead, 3-2, with a slapshot from near the boards.
But the lead evaporated two minutes later as the Phantoms failed to converge on a hard bounce off the backboard. The puck came out about 15 feet where Brent Tate snapped it between O’Connor’s pads for a 3-3 tie.
Early in the third period, Ambrosia was awarded a penalty shot after being interfered with on a breakaway. Ambrosia skated in deep then tried a backhand shot low that was stuffed Hafner’s pads.
The Phantoms play today in Chicago against the last-place Steel. Carr said O’Connor played well enough to earn the start, but it will be a game-time decision based on how well O’Connor rests during the overnight bus trip.