Phantoms surge to take 1st place in East, tied for overall top spot

March 14, 2015 at 12:09a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

More over Cedar Rapids RoughRiders — there’s a new team atop the USHL’s Eastern Conference standings that also is tied for most points in the league.

The Youngstown Phantoms scored three goals in 127 seconds late in the second period of Friday’s 4-2 victory over the Sioux City Musketeers at the Covelli Centre.

It’s the first time in six seasons that the Phantoms have been in first place after New Year’s Day. Their 13th consecutive victory moves the Phantoms (32-13-5, 69 points) one point ahead of the RoughRiders (34-16-0, 68 points). They also tied the Musketeers (32-15-5, 69 points) for first place in the overall league race.

The Phantoms and Musketeers meet again tonight at 7:05 in a first-place showdown.

Kevin Conley scored two goals while Vas Kolias and Ryan Lomberg each had one.

“It’s definitely something special,” Conley said of the streak. “[Tonight] is going to be a really big game — first in the East versus first in the West.

“It’s definitely going to be a great game.”

As the second period was winding down, the score was tied 1-1 and the Phantoms were gassed trying to keep the Musketeers away from goaltender Colin DeAugustine.

“That was a pivotal moment,” said Phantoms coach Brad Patterson who served as head coach for the suspended Anthony Noreen. “A credit to our guys — they weathered the storm then capitalized on the opportunities that they created.”

Kolias’ goal stunned the Musketeers and swung momentum. He took a pass from defense partner Kris Myllari at the Phantoms’ blue line and burst down the ice, shooting the puck between Musketeers goaltender Collin Olson’s legs for a 2-1 lead.

“Kris made a great play, fed it over to me and I had a lot of space,” Kolias said. “They gave me a lot of room. I thought I had a step on their defenseman [and] took it.

“[Olson] was kind of sliding over to protect his far side and I saw his five-hole open so I snuck it in there,” Kolias said.

A little more than a minute later, Conley scored his second goal of the game when he and Connor McDonald connected on a two-on-one breakaway.

“It was kind of a weird play, they went on a four-on-two then we came back,” Conley said. “Mac made a great shot for a rebound and the puck was right there.”

Less than a minute later, Alec Vanko found Lomberg unguarded at the side of the net for a 4-1 lead.

The Musketeers couldn’t recover. Jake Ryczek’s power-play goal with 8:08 remaining sliced the lead to two but DeAugustine (18-6-0-1) stopped everything else sent his way for 33 saves.

Olson made 30 stops.

Noreen watched the game from a suite next to the press box.

“That was not easy,” the fourth-year head coach said after pacing throughout the game. “I must have written 12 pages of notes.”

Patterson and John Ronan handled the bench.

“Coaching, you do most of your work during the week,” Patterson said, “[This win] is a credit to the guys, it wasn’t anything we did behind the bench. They were ready, they played well, they executed.”

Now that 13 has proven lucky, 14 would put the Phantoms alone at the top.

“The amazing thing about this is it’s not one guy — we’ve had somebody different chip in every night,” Patterson said.