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Phantoms control playoff destiny
Gallery
By Greg Gulas
YOUNGSTOWN
Knowing full well that the Youngstown Phantoms’ playoff life was on the line and the team needed three points this weekend in order to secure a USHL playoff berth, leading scorer Austin Pooley felt he needed to step up his game.
He didn’t disappoint.
Pooley scored two goals and Alex Esposito and Evan Wisocky each added a goal to lead the Phantoms over Team USA 4-2 in Eastern Conference action Friday night at Covelli Centre.
“We needed to step up tonight as a team, and that’s exactly what we did,” Pooley said. “We played hard the entire game at both ends of the ice.”
With two points secured, all the Phantoms (33-20-5-1, 72 points) need to do tonight is get to overtime and they will pass the Green Bay Gamblers for the Eastern Conference’s fourth and final playoff spot.
The Gamblers (34-22-2-2, 72 points) left the door open for Youngstown by losing their final regular-season game 1-0 to the Bloomington Thunder on Thursday night.
But the Gamblers own the tie-breaker over Youngstown, 32-27 (regulation plus overtime wins).
Team USA (23-33-1-2, 49 points) needed just 86 seconds to get on the board, taking the early goal advantage on Josh Maniscola’s fourth netter of the season.
“It was an up-and-down game and they got out to the early 1-0 lead, but there was no doubt in my mind that we would bounce back,” Phantoms head coach Brad Patterson said. “There was tons of energy on the bench and you didn’t even know that they had scored.”
Pooley’s shot at 5:11 of the period slid under the glove of USA goalie Anthony Yamnitsky as Youngstown pulled even at a goal apiece heading to the second period.
Pooley’s power-play goal came with a two-man advantage and was his team-leading 20th of the campaign.
“Alec [Mahalak] passed the puck to [Dominic] Dockery for a one-timer at the top of the circle,” Pooley said. “After it hit their goalie’s pad, I got it and pulled it to my backhand and it slid under his glove as I was falling back.”
Pooley’s second goal at 8:34 of the second period gave the Phantoms their first lead at 2-1. They stretched it to a two-goal advantage after Esposito’s shot found the back of the USA net at 10:49 of the period.
Pooley’s second goal came off a line change.
“Jake Gingell made a good stop at the blue line and I just picked up the puck,” he said. “I was able to get my feet moving up the ice, got inside the blue line and at the top of the circle just looked for a good shot. The shot went over the goalie’s glove and into the net.”
Esposito’s goal was his 17th of the year.
“When I hopped off the bench, Pierce Crawford had the puck and hurled a pass to [Steve] Ruggiero,” he said. “Ruggiero then got me the puck and I was able to send it home. It’s a great feeling to be able to say you now control your own destiny.”
Mattias Samuelson’s fifth goal of the year at 4:21 of the third period cut the USA deficit to 3-2, but the Phantoms, with the help of several spectacular saves late in the game by goalie Ivan Kulbakov, sealed the victory after Wisocky’s empty netter with one second remaining.
“Ivan made some huge stops tonight, especially with less than two minutes left to play,” Patterson said. “It’s something that we take for granted and expect of him, which is why I feel that he is the best goalie in the league.”
The Phantoms will head into tonight’s regular-season finale with a 6-2 overall mark against Team USA, including a 4-1 against the U-17 squad (they were 2-1 against the U-18 unit).
They’ve now outscored the U-17 team by a 20-7 margin.