Phantoms rally past the Musketeers

January 8, 2011 at 12:10a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Two third-period goals enabled the Youngstown Phantoms to kick off 2011 with their first win in more than a month.

With 83 seconds remaining in regulation in a 3-3 tie, Phantoms forward Jiri Sekac carried the puck into the Sioux City zone then hit linemate Cody Strang in stride at the top of the faceoff circle.

Strang’s shot eluded Musketeers goalie Jake Hildebrand’s glove swipe for the Phantoms’ 4-3 victory Friday at the Covelli Centre.

“We work on that [play] a lot — third man high coming in kinda late behind all their backcheckers,” Strang said. “I just found an opening.

“This feels really great, we’ve been working really hard this month to try and get this off our backs,” said Strang, who scored twice and played a key role in one of the Musketeers’ goals. “To get it against a good team is a great feeling. We tried to stay positive.”

The win snapped a seven-game losing streak and earned the Phantoms (10-17-1, 21 points) two points for the time since Dec. 4. Goaltender Greg Lewis from Mars, Pa., earned his first USHL victory, making 20 saves in his first start on home ice.

“It felt great because my family and a few of my friends came out,” said Lewis (1-1) whose first start was at Muskegon on Dec. 18 in a 3-2 loss to the Lumberjacks. “Our guys were going tonight.”

Phantoms coach Curtis Carr was pleased with how well Lewis performed in net.

“He gave us a chance, he came up big when he needed him to,” Carr said. “He’s been working extremely hard to get adjusted to the speed since he’s joined us.”

Lewis was the Phantoms’ third goalkeeper in training camp and began the season with Amarillo in the North American Hockey League. The Phantoms acquired him after Matt Green left the team in late October after making one start in the first eight games.

Carr said the difference in Lewis since he arrived “is night and day. It took him a while to get adjusted but he had a great game in his first start.”

A couple of bad bounces had the Phantoms trailing 3-2 after two periods. But two minutes into the third period, Phantoms forward Stu Higgins tied the game with a backhand shot from the slot set up by a pass from Mike Ambrosia from the corner.

“We played extremely well, Carr said. “We created a lot of opportunities. When they had on that bad bounce off Cody’s foot into their own net, I thought the guys responded by continuing to work hard.”

Carr was referring to the Musketeers’ (15-11-2, 32 points) second goal that snapped a 1-1 tie. Skating behind the goal line on a power play, Musketeers forward Max McCormick sent the puck towards the slot where it bounced off Strang past Lewis.

Strang said, “It was my fault.”

Lewis said, “Those things happen — you just have to get past that.”

The Phantoms tied the game when Ty Loney tipped Adam Berkle’s shot from the point past Hildebrand during a power play.

“[Our] win-loss [record] isn’t where we want it to be, but these guys continue to work hard,” Carr said. “It’s nice to pull one out.”

Berkle scored the Phantoms’ first goal about two minutes into the game.