Phantoms fall to Lumberjacks
Staff report
MUSKEGON, MICH.
The Youngstown Phantoms dropped their second game in a row to the Muskegon Lumberjacks 6-4.
Four Phantoms players recorded multi-point games in the losing effort.
Just like Friday night, the Phantoms (13-19-4, 30 points) were able to strike first against the Lumberjacks. Phantoms defenseman Nilan Nagy moved his way into the Jacks’ zone and put a wrist shot past Joel Vienneau on the blocker side right along the ice at the back post.
The Phantoms extended their lead to two with just 5:57 minutes to play in the first period. Phantoms blueliner Chris Bradley took a slap shot from the point that was redirected into the net by Stephen Collins. A late penalty against Ben Paulides sent the Phantoms on the penalty kill and with 15 seconds left in the period, Ryan Misiak beat Greg Lewis to pull the Jacks within one heading into the intermission.
Just over a minute into the second period, the Lumberjacks drew even on a shorthanded goal by Casey Thrush. The Lumberjacks (16-14-7, 39 points) continued to gain momentum as Brendan Woods scored on a one timer off a feed from Thrush at 10:18. Toward the end of the second period, Phantoms forward Andrew Sinelli was issued a five-minute major for charging. The Phantoms were able kill off 2:44 of that major but there was still 2:22 left to kill off at the start of the third period.
Just two minutes into the third period, Chris Lochner scored on the power play to give the Lumberjacks a 4-2 lead. The Jacks extended their lead to three less than five minutes later as Matt Berry scored Muskegon’s third power play goal. On the Phantoms’ first power play of the third period, Ty Loney cut the Lumberjacks lead to just two goals.