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Phantoms beat Muskegon
Special to the Vindicator
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Jiri Sekac #92 of the Phantoms handles the puck on a power play against Muskegon.
By Tom Williams
YOUNGSTOWN
The USHL’s streakiest team is on another roll.
For the second straight night, the Youngstown Phantoms scored a late goal for a 4-3 victory, this time over Muskegon at the Covelli Centre.
Jiri Sekac’s goal with 45 seconds remaining in regulation on Saturday extended the Phantoms’ latest winning streak to two. Friday’s 4-3 win over Sioux City snapped a seven-game losing streak that had been preceded by a four-game winning streak.
“It’s huge, we needed these wins bad,” said Ty Loney, the Phantoms’ leading scorer who fed the pass to Sekac that produced the game-winner. “They really help in the standings and we’re trying to move forward and get another one tomorrow.”
Today in Ann Arbor, Mich., the Phantoms will go for a hat trick of victories this weekend when they play Team USA’s 17-Under squad.
With the Phantoms pressing in the Lumberjacks’ zone, Loney picked up the puck in the corner and found Sekac unguarded near the net. Sekac’s shot eluded Lumberjacks goalie Joel Vienneau to spark the Phantoms’ hopes of catching fourth-place Muskegon to earn a home playoff game.
“Jiri had [chances] all game, he just couldn’t bury it so I gave him the puck,” said Loney who also scored a first-period goal. “I was pretty confident he was going to put it in, and he did, which was great for us.”
The win gives the fifth-place Phantoms 23 points, seven behind the fourth-place Lumberjacks.
The Phantoms won despite the ejection of defenseman Ben Paulides late in the second period.
With the Phantoms ahead 3-2, Paulides was penalized four minutes and ejected for checking from behind when he crunched Isaac Kohls into the corner boards.
While killing the penalty, Phantoms defenseman Justin Stevens was assessed a tripping penalty for a five-on-three advantage. The Lumberjacks capitalized and tied the game on Matt Berry’s goal.
Phantoms coach Curtis Carr said the league will review the Paulides hit for a possible one-game suspension. Carr said he expects Paulides will be permitted to play today.
“I thought we played better last night, a more complete game,” Carr said. “Tonight, we were very good offensively obviously with the number of shots.”
The Phantoms (11-17-1) outshot the Lumberjacks (12-11-6), 41-17. At one point, they had a 30-11 advantage.
Trailing 1-0 after the Lumberjacks’ Charlie Taft beat goalie Greg Lewis, the Phantoms needed just 90 seconds to take the lead. First, defenseman Scott Mayfield tied the game by grabbing a Lumberjacks giveaway and scoring his second goal of the season.
Then Loney pounced on a rebound off Vienneau and sent the puck past the sprawled Lumberjack netminder. Vienneau had stretched to stop Paulides’ slap shot then lost his balance, giving Loney a wide-open net.
Midway through the second period, Cody Strang tallied his third goal in two games when he stole the puck from Lumberjacks defenseman Travis Walsh at the Phantoms blue line and beat Vienneau on a breakaway with a shot through the gap between his pads.
Casey Thrush’s sixth goal of the season revived the Lumberjacks.