Phantoms force OT, fall in shootout

Staff report

KEARNEY, NEB.

Defenseman Matt Miller and forward Josh Melnick scored third-period goals on Saturday to force overtime before the Youngstown Phantoms lost in a shootout against the Tri-City Storm.

After a scoreless first period, the Phantoms gave up two goals in 19 seconds.

The Storm struck first late in the frame when defenseman Kevin Kerr slipped a centering pass past Phantoms netminder Chris Birdsall for a 1-0 lead.

Jake Wahlin made it 2-0 when he threw a shot from below the goal line that deflected off of the back of Birdsall’s leg.

The Phantoms offense came to life in the third period. Miller scored after a feed from forward Matt Alvaro. Miller’s slapshot beat Storm goaltender Jared Rutledge to slice the Storm lead to 2-1.

“He was going to give it to Kiefer [Sherwood], but he heard me yelling so he dished to me and I gave it everything I had,” Miller said.

For the fifth time this season, the Phantoms completed a third-period comeback when forward Max Letunov took the puck off of a faceoff and sent a feed to Melnick who blasted a one-timer past Rutledge to tie the game.

“Coach [Anthony Noreen] switched the lines up in the third period just to get things going,” Melnick said. “I went to the net and Max saw me back door and gave me a great pass. I had a wide open net.”

Birdsall stopped 30 shots.

“The third period was a good as we’ve been,” Noreen. said. “I thought our effort, our resilience, and our mental toughness that we showed late was very good.”