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Pooley’s overtime goal lifts Phantoms
Youngstown Phantoms vs Muskegon Lumberjacks
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Youngstown chasing Chicago for top spot in USHL playoff race
By Greg Gulas
YOUNGSTOWN
Austin Pooley’s breakaway goal in overtime helped lift the Youngstown Phantoms to a 3-2 victory over the Muskegon Lumberjacks in a USHL Eastern Conference game Tuesday night at Covelli Centre.
The Phantoms (16-9-2-1, 35 points) won for the fifth straight time, moved to 9-1-1 in the past 11 contests and overtook the Dubuque Fighting Saints (16-8-1-1, 34 points) for sole possession of second-place in the conference.
Also, with points in 11 of their last 12 contests, they now trail the Chicago Steel (18-5-1-2, 39 points) by just four points for the conference’s top spot.
“I went ‘D to D’ in the overtime period, saw some open ice and [Brandon] Estes just made a great play through the middle,” Pooley said of his first USHL overtime game-winner. “I deked the goalie, faked left, pulled right and rushed to my backhand.”
Leading 2-1 with under a minute to play, Muskegon’s Andrei Svechnikov’s goal at 19:18 knotted the game at 2 to force the extra period.
“After they tied the game, Coach [Brad] Patterson told us just to keep going, stay with the game plan, be patient and we’d bury one in overtime. That proved to be good coaching advice,” Pooley added.
Neither team scored in the opening session however, the Lumberjacks did have two goals waved off with the first coming on a high stick just 2:04 into the game and the other at 17:52 on goalie interference.
A Phantoms power-play opportunity ensued after the interference call, but failed to produce a goal during the final two minutes of the period.
In the second frame, it didn’t take the Lumberjacks long at all to find the back of the net as Will Smith’s fifth goal of the year at 1:02 snuck by Phantoms goalie Britt League for a 1-0 advantage.
Youngstown tied the score at a goal apiece on a power-play opportunity when Alex Esposito notched his 10th goal on a shot that he launched past Muskegon goalie Adam Brizgala at 11:34 of the frame.
Assisting was both Alec Mahalak and Nicolas Werbik and while it was Werbik’s 13th assist on the campaign, it was also the team-leading 23rd point of the year for both Esposito and Werbik.
The Phantoms continued to take advantage of their power-play opportunities, taking a 2-1 lead with a man advantage at 2:14 of the third on a goal by Curtis Hall, his sixth of the season.
With time winding down, Svechnikov’s 11th goal into the back of the Phantoms’ net forced the extra frame.
“You never want to see the tying goal like that, but it was a back-and-forth game like they have all been this year with Muskegon. In the overtime session, we just kept pushing, played the right way and didn’t cheat,” Patterson said.
Patterson also added that the team feeds of off Pooley’s energy.
“Austin has been the backbone of our team all year. He’s always super-pumped, has a lot of energy and the guys just feed off of him. They’re excited whenever he scores and it was just an awesome goal for him tonight,” Patterson said.
Patterson attributes their current run to hard work and preparation.
“The guys are just playing the right way,” he said. “There’s nothing sexy about it and there’s been no dangleitis, they just show up and play hard every night,” he said.
The Phantoms are now 1-2-2-1 in six overtime contests while the Lumberjacks fell (3-1-3-0) for the first time in seven overtime games.