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Frightful start dooms Phantoms
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Josh Melnick (8) scores the first goal for the Phantoms against Steel goalie Cale Morris in the second period of Sunday’s game at the Covelli Centre. The Phantoms fell 5-2.
By CURTIS PULLIAM
Youngstown
Kevin Conley tried providing a spark for the Youngstown Phantoms six minutes into Sunday’s second period when he dropped the gloves with Chicago Steel player Brendon Kearney.
“I was battling along the boards and I could feel him pressing me,” Conley said. “So I was like ‘OK this guy kind of wants it but I don’t know.’ And then I looked [and it] was 4-0 so I had to something to get the boys going. We weren’t playing our best hockey.”
No matter what anybody did, nothing seemed to spark the Phantoms.
More importantly, it’s what the Phantoms didn’t do that cost them.
“We veered a lot from the things that have made us successful this season,” said head coach Anthony Noreen.
The Phantoms fell to the Steel 5-2 at the Covelli Center in front of 602 fans on Hockey for Hounds night.
“I thought we got outside of our systems and ourselves and because of that we wound up chasing [the puck],” Noreen said. “It’s very hard to chase in this league against very good teams.”
Turnovers in their own zone also hurt the Phantoms early on.
Robby Jackson for the Steel netted a goal at the 12:02 mark to put the Steel up 1-0.
The Steel added three more goals to push the lead to 4-0. Kearney, John Schilling and Ryan Blankemeier scored for the Steel. Noreen then pulled goalie Colin DeAugustine.
“Just trying to change the momentum,” Noreen said. “I thought we hung him out to dry and it was not necessarily his fault. ”
Chris Birdsall came in and stopped 10 of 11 shots.
Defenseman Josh Melnick scored the first Phantoms goal with just under five minutes to go in the second period.
Melnick started a break passing it to Max Letunov who took the puck into the Steel’s zone.
Letunov got the puck back to Melnick and fired two shots, getting the rebound passed Morris.
“It was really exciting,” Melnick said. “It was pretty big for me because I just wanted to get the team motivated, and trying to get the team back to how we are able to playing.”
“He’s probably been our most consistent player,” Noreen said. “He’s a guy, when you need him and tonight was needed, he’s a guy who could step it up. I thought he gave us everything he had and sacrificed his body to block a shot in a 4-0 game.”
Melnick knew the tough start hurt his team.
“I thought we had a lot of bad bounces,” Melnick said. “Down low I thought we actually moved it [the puck] pretty well.”
The second Phantoms goal was scored late in the third by Vas Kolias.
The Phantoms out-shot the Steel 43-21 but couldn’t put the puck past Steel goalie Cale Morris enough.
Morris had 41 saves.
“Their goal had a big game with a bunch of key stops,” Melnick said.
Conley knew there was plenty wrong with the Phantoms’ performance.
“Our work ethic wasn’t there; we weren’t first on pucks,” Conley said. “It was just a tough game.”
The Phantoms have not fared well in recent games with the Steel, posting a 1-5-1 record.
They play again today at 7:05 p.m.
“We got them again here in less than 24 hours,” Noreen said. “The biggest thing is we need to fix the problems from tonight.”