Weary Phantoms lose in finale of trip

Staff report

BENSENVILLE, Ill.

For the second time in three days, the Youngstown Phantoms entered the third period tied at 1, and the end result Sunday afternoon was again disappointment. The Chicago Steel got a pair of third-period goals and the Phantoms (19-12-3, ), who were playing for the third straight day on the road, fell 3-1.

Defenseman Chris Bradley scored the Phantoms’ only goal and goaltender Sean Romeo turned away 17 of 20 shots, as Youngstown finished 1-1-1 on the weekend’s three-game road swing.

“There are no moral victories for taking three out of six points,” coach Anthony Noreen said. “Was it a tough weekend travel-wise? Absolutely. It was very taxing on our guys when we were already short a couple bodies, but it’s not an excuse.”

The Steel (10-23-1) grabbed their first lead at the 8:44 mark of the first period when Jeff Kubiak redirected a slap shot from Jacob Slavin that beat Romeo low. But Chicago promptly followed the goal with a pair of penalties in the following minutes, which gave the Phantoms a 5-on-3 advantage for 57 seconds.

Bradley knotted it up at 1-1 during the two-man power play with his fourth goal in two nights. Austin Cangelosi got the puck from Ambrosia below the goal line and sent it up to Bradley between the circles, where he fired a one-timer past Alex Sakellaropoulos.

Romeo made a pair of big saves, including a spectacular snag of Michael Vilardo in the final two minutes.

The Steel scored on goals in the third period by Vilardo and Michael Fallon.