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Extremely slow start smothers Phantoms
RoughRiders score 4 fast goals for win at Covelli
By Dan Hiner
YOungstown
City traffic was slow due to Saturday’s road conditions. The Phantoms were just as slow on the ice during the first period of their 5-2 loss to Cedar Rapids at the Covelli Centre.
The game was scheduled for its usual time of 7:05 p.m., but the start was moved up two hours due to the winter storm. Phantoms head coach Brad Patterson never used time change as an excuse and needed to see more intensity.
“We used those same words, probably with a few different adjectives,” Patterson said when discussing the team’s lethargic start. “I thought the intensity wasn’t great, and when that happens and the other team’s intense and coming after ya and skating, you’re gonna struggle to do anything in the game.”
The RoughRiders (16-13-2-2) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first period. Phantoms goalie Chad Veltri had trouble controlling rebounds and Cedar Rapids took advantage.
Three of the RoughRiders’ first-period goals came on second chance shots in front of the net.
“At the end of the day, I’m sure [Veltri would] want to put the rebounds somewhere else,” Patterson said. “That fact we didn’t have somebody in that spot and they did ... it’s very simple to say but it happened far to often in the first period and all game to be fair.”
Nathan Smith, Ben Almquist, Liam Walsh and Mitchell Miller scored for the RoughRiders. Jason Polin had a goal and an assist while Grant Silianoff, Andrey Bakanov and Aidan McDonough recorded two goals each.
The Phantoms’ penalty kills had a rough night as well. The Phantoms (16-14-1-3) allowed two power play goals, which allowed Cedar Rapids to break the game open.
With 13:28 left in the first period, Polin extended the RoughRiders’ lead to 2-0 on a power play goal after Jack Malone was called for high sticking and Smith scored five minutes later following a tripping call against Ben Schoen.
The Phantoms have allowed three power-play goals over the last two games. Patterson said the penalty killers need to improve, but the whole team needs to refocus.
“I thought our penalty kill’s struggled over the past few weeks and that’s gotta get better and that’ll start to right the ship a little bit,” Patteson said. “There were a lot of things other than special teams that I didn’t think were great tonight, but I know we’ll be better in the future.”
The Phantoms’ offense woke up in the second period. Gianfranco Cassaro and Connor MacEachern each scored power-play goals to cut the lead to 4-2 heading into the third period.
Matt DeMelis, Arsenii Smekhnov, Liam Dennison and Malone each recorded an assist.
Youngstown never had a chance to cut back into the lead.
“We scored two on the power play, but we didn’t get a whole lot of looks apart from that — as far as ‘grade A’ chances,” Patterson said. “I thought Matty DeMelis was around a lot tonight.
“I thought he did a good job offensively, but you can’t rely on your power play to get you four or five goals. You want one every night and I thought they did that.”
Youngstown split the season series with the RoughRiders. Cedar Rapids won the first meeting of the year before dropping the last two prior to Saturday.
The Phantoms have played six of their last 10 on the road and will start a five-game road trip in Tri-City to play the Storm on Friday in Nebraska.
“It’s not anything special that we need to work on,” Pattterson said. “It’s just getting back to the fundamentals, and there’s no question that our guys are gonna bounce back.
“You’re never as bad as what you think and you’re never as good as what you think. And that applies at all times.”