Phantoms stopped by Steel, goalie Wilson

Staff report

BENSENVILLE, ILL.

Alex Kubiak scored two goals and Tucker Brockett added a pair of assists to lead the Chicago Steel to a 3-2 victory over the Youngstown Phantoms in a USHL game on Sunday at Edge Arena.

The Phantoms (15-23-4) were denied their second win in as many days by the Steel, and goalie Connor Wilson, who stopped 26 shots.

Jiri Sekac and Scott Mayfield had the goals for the Phantoms — Sekac scoring for the second straight game.

Chris Bradley, Ryan Belonger, Justin Stevens and Adam Berkle had assists for Youngstown, which scored both of its goals on the power play.

“I was pleasantly surprised with the how much energy we had coming into tonight’s game,” said Phantoms coach Curtis Carr. “We have had a long week and playing [Saturday] night I knew we would be a little tired. The guys came out fired up and they really played well.”

Chicago broke a scoreless tie with 6:35 remaining in the first period when defenseman Peter Hand took a wrist shot from the point to beat Phantoms goalie Jordan Tibbett. Hand capitalized on a screen in front of the Phantoms net for his first goal of the season.

Youngstown evened the score on Mayfield’s power-play goal with 14:55 remaining in the second period, and Sekac’s tally with 7:26 to go gave the Phantoms a 2-1 lead.

Kubiak netted the tying goal with 4:48 left in the second, and his second goal with 10:05 remaining in the game proved to be the decider.

The Phantoms pressured Wilson late in the game, but the Steel goalie denied several shots to earn the win.

“Wilson won the game for them,” said Carr. “He was by far the difference maker in tonight’s game. He stopped a penalty shot, a breakaway and a two-on-one, I don’t think I have seen a performance like his in the past two seasons.”