43
Phantoms quiet Thunder in weekend USHL sweep
By STEVE WILAJ
YOungstown
After suffering a season-opening loss on Sept. 26, the Phantoms entered this weekend’s two-game set against Bloomington with urgency to get on the right track.
Mission accomplished, as Youngstown — keyed by consecutive second period goals and strong goalie play by Ryan Bednard — defeated the Thunder, 4-2, on Saturday at the Covelli Centre to complete the series sweep.
“We didn’t start out how we wanted to, so this weekend was good getting two wins,” Bednard said. “We definitely came into it hungry and ready to play.”
After a tightly contested first 35 minutes, Youngstown turned a 1-1 tie into a two-goal advantage in the span of about two minutes.
At the 4:13 mark of the second period, Alex Esposito beat Bloomington goalie Hayden Lavigne on a penalty shot for a 2-1 Phantoms lead. Moments later, Cameron Morrison found the back of the net with 2:20 left in the second period — assisted by James Winkler and Chase Pearson.
It was the third goal of the year for the Notre Dame recruit Morrison, while Esposito, a Vermont commit, recorded his first score.
“He came over to the bench and I said ‘Espo, do you want the penalty shot?’ ” Phantoms head coach John Wroblewski said. “And he gave me a very sure answer that he wanted to take the shot. So you’re gonna let him — that’s a no-brainer. To follow it up was huge.”
The two goals capped a Phantoms comeback, as Bloomington took a 1-0 lead early in the first period on Wyatt Kalynuk’s power-play goal.
Youngstown answered in the first when Patrick Kramer — assisted by Winkler and Morrison — scored his first goal of the season with just 53.1 seconds remaining. Lukas Craggs later added his second goal of the season in the third period to follow the consecutive second-period goals.
“It’s definitely a confidence booster for our team,” Morrison said of the back-to-back scores. “We took that momentum and kept rolling and ultimately won the game off that.”
Bednard — a Bowling Green recruit and seventh-round pick of the Florida Panthers in June’s NHL Draft — dominated for most of the contest. He finished with 35 saves on 37 shots, denying a Thunder penalty shot early in the third period.
His impressive night marked the second straight game of strong goalie play for the Phantoms, as Colin DeAugustine shut down the Thunder on Friday with 34 saves while allowing just one goal.
“They were outstanding,” Wroblewski said. “I thought [DeAugustine] had to be real dynamic [Friday] night — there were too many times where he had to make an exceptional save. Whereas tonight, I thought Bednard’s game was very solid and we were a little bit more predictable for him.”