Phantoms rebound with win over Capitols

By katie montgomery

sports @vindy.com

youngstown

After last weekend’s rough finish against Bloomington, the Youngstown Phantoms needed a lift.

They got it with Friday’s 4-2 win over the Madison Capitols at the Covelli Centre.

The Phantoms’ fight to earn their way back into the USHL playoffs is under way.

The last time the Phantoms and Capitols played, the Phantoms earned a 5-3 win after falling behind in the first two periods. This time, the Capitols fell to the high pressure defense led by Vas Kolias and Luke McInnis and surrendered two goals in the first and second periods.

Kolias scored the first goal for the Phantoms at the nine-minute mark of the first period on a power play, one of the Phantoms’ biggest weaknesses against Bloomington.

With the Capitols pressed back into their defensive zone, Kolias worked the puck along the top of the line before nailing the shot into the left corner of the net.

“We’re all just working together better,” Kolias said. “None of those goals is one guy. It’s all of us coming together making the correct plays, finding the right guy, finding the open net.”

As the score progressed to 2-1 in the second, Kolias crossed to Yushiroh Hirano for another power play goal to bring the Phantoms 3-1.

When the Capitols scored again in the second, McInnis retaliated for the Phantoms with 30 seconds left in the period. Forward Tommy Apap intercepted a slow pass from the Capitols goalie Drew Hotte, who was behind the net.

Apap crossed the puck to McInnis for a quick shot as the goalie struggled to get back in position.

Assistant Coach Brad Patterson credited the sting of losing for the new focus the team brought to this game.

“You’re always going to have an off night, and we had it last week,” he said. “I think that tonight, just a byproduct of hard work and putting pucks in the net, we were successful.”

With 12 games left, including one more against the Capitols tonight, the Phantoms are looking to earn as many points as possible to pull themselves back into the league playoffs.

“We’re trying to work our way back into it, and these two points are pretty big for us to get back in,” Kolias said. “If we stay at the pace we were at tonight, we should have no problems.”

For Patterson, the team’s resilience and mentality will be the key to their success.

“We’ve got a very tight-knit group,” he said. “They show up for work the next day. They take punches and success the same way. And I think you need that for a championship team.”