43
Perseverance helps Phantoms catch, top Saints
By Ryan Buck
YOUNGSTOWN
The Youngstown Phantoms twice overcame two-goal deficits Friday night, took a 5-4 lead early in the third period and closed out the Dubuque Fighting Saints in a wild 6-4 victory.
Maxime Letunov scored two goals, linemate Kyle Connor scored one goal and assisted on two others and Josh Melnick tipped in the game-winner with 17:22 to play at the Covelli Centre.
“That was probably the biggest character win we’ve had all year,” said Phantoms coach Anthony Noreen. “We’ve had a lot of wins this year, but we haven’t had many like that where we’ve had to dig from two goals deep twice against as good a team as we’ve seen all year and we’ve seen pretty much everyone.”
An early lead was quickly erased.
Letunov opened the scoring nearly seven minutes into the opening period with a power-play goal, beating Dubuque goaltender Jacob Nehama off assists from Connor and Kris Myllari.
Dubuque, currently in second place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference, responded quickly.
The Fighting Saints got on the scoreboard with a goal from winger Brett Boeing one minute, 11 seconds after Letunov’s strike.
Twenty seconds later, Jacob Benson gave Dubuque a 2-1 lead with a power play goal, set up by assists from Seamus Malone and Nate Suceses.
Then with 5:07 remaining in the first, Mitchell Smith put Dubuque ahead 3-1 off assists from Evan Smith and Sasha Larocque.
Yet panic never set in on the Phantoms’ bench.
“I really liked our game once we went down and we really turned the tide,” Noreen said.
Phantoms forward Ryan Lomberg provided a spark with an unassisted goal to bring Youngstown to within one four minutes into the second, but again Dubuque responded when Boeing scored again less than a minute later.
Finally, the surge came. Connor set up Chase Pearson on a power play with 6:20 left in the second. Then Connor moved Youngstown within one with 2:05 remaining in the period with a goal of his own.
“We felt really good,” Noreen said. “There were a couple X’s and O’s adjustments we had to make in the second, but there was really no riling them up. I thought the energy was really good and I thought we were in a really good spot. It showed in the third.”
Melnick tipped in a pass 2:44 into the third to give the Phantoms a lead they sustained. Letunov was originally given the goal, but the decision was later changed.
The Phantoms’ defense, bolstered by Colin DeAugustine and his 32 saves — while withstanding eight power plays — carried the day.
After one last Dubuque rush, Josh Nenadal flipped a shot just past his blueline into an empty Dubuque net for the final tally.
The teams meet again tonight at 7:05.