Phantoms top Gamblers for eighth straight win

Staff report

GREEN BAY, WIS.

Forward Taylor Best scored two goals and the Youngstown Phantoms won their eighth straight game, defeating the Green Bay Gamblers 8-5 on Sunday afternoon.

Forwards Chase Pearson, James Winkler, Kiefer Sherwood, Max Letunov and Bryan Lemos each added lone scores for the Phantoms (27-13-5), who also won their eighth straight road game.

Youngstown jumped out to an 8-2 lead early in the third period before Green Bay made the score respectable thanks to a goal by forward Sam Saliba and two from forward Joey Marooney.

That was all the offense Green Bay was able to muster, as Phantoms goalie Chris Birdsall stopped 23 of the 28 shots he faced to collect his 12th win of the season.

“We challenged our guys to move forward and not be satisfied with the last two games, and I thought the first two periods were our best of the weekend,” Phantoms coach Anthony Noreen said. “I liked our response and the energy level we had in the third. It was good to see with that being our third game in four days.”