Phantoms sweep Gamblers after long, hard week battling illness

January 11, 2015 at 12:08a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

For the second straight night, the Green Bay Gamblers sliced a Youngstown Phantoms’ two-goal lead in half very late in the game.

This time, the Phantoms escaped Saturday’s last-second scare when Kyle Connor connected for an empty-net goal with a shot from near the red line, sealing a 4-2 victory at the Covelli Centre.

“We had about 10 chances at the open net,” Phantoms head coach Anthony Noreen said. “Kyle’s been getting a ton of chances and he’s a little bit snake-bit right now. Sometimes those are the ones you need, an easy one to get you back going.”

Goaltender Chris Birdsall, in his first game in a month after suffering a concussion, stopped 26 shots to improve to 7-2-5.

“It feels pretty good to be back with the boys and start playing again,” Birdsall said.

Birdsall shook off an early goal by the Gamblers’ Derek Barach on a back-hand shot.

“I just tried to stay even-keeled, focus on the next shot and forget about the goal,” Birdsall said.

Sluggish at the start, the Phantoms (17-9-5, 39 points) received a spark after 5-foot-8 Josh Nenadal took on 6-1 Sam Kauppila. After being knocked to the ice during the fight, Nenadal bounced up to exchange more punches, eventually sending his taller opponent to the ice.

The Phantoms seized control in the second period with two goals within 1:47. First, Kiefer Sherwood deflected Tommy Parran’s shot past Gamblers goaltender Kevin Reich. It was his 11th goal in the past 10 games.

Chase Pearson then snapped the tie on a feed from Connor.

“Kyle made a great play coming around the net,” Pearson said. “He pretty much drew everyone and I was wide open in the slot. I had a lot of time.”

Late in the second period, defenseman Matt Miller swooped into the slot and scored for a 3-1 lead.

With two minutes to go, the Gamblers lifted Reich for an extra skater and Sam Miletic scored with 1:25 remaining to tighten the game.

The Phantoms killed off all four Gamblers’ power plays. The win keeps the fourth-place Phantoms four points ahead of Madison.

The Phantoms’ sweep came after a week in which sickness swept the locker room and practices were limited to healthy bodies. Pearson was scratched from Friday’s game.

“Illness hit the team this week and it probably hit him the hardest and latest,” Noreen said of Pearson. “He was great tonight, one of our best forwards — probably still wasn’t at 100 percent.”

Today, Noreen will take Connor, Pearson, Birdsall and defenseman Kris Myllari to Dubuque, Iowa, for Tuesday’s NHL/USHL Top Prospects Game.

“I can’t wait to go play against the top kids in the league,” Birdsall said.

Pearson said he’s glad he was able to return. “It felt good,” Pearson said. “I needed one game at least before we go play with the top guys in the USHL. It’s good to get my legs under me before that game.”