BOX SCORE

YOUNGSTOWN, OH – Playing their first of three games in a 45-hour span, the Youngstown Phantoms (6-2-1-0, 13pts) turned a 1-1 tie at the first intermission into a 7-3 win over Team USA Friday night at the Covelli Centre.

"We have to keep putting 60-minute efforts together," said Phantoms Head Coach Ryan Ward. "We're really yet to play a 60-minute game. I thought all of our lines were good, we still need to move the puck a little bit more."

The Phantoms fell victim to an unlucky bounce, putting them in an early hole 3:17 into the game. Carter Meyer was trying to make a cross-crease pass on the power play, but the pass went off the stick of a Phantom defender and behind Owen Lepak (14 saves) to give USA the early advantage. Youngstown answered back just over a minute later when Ryan Rucinski sneaked a low wrister from the right circle past Nate Chizik (28 saves) for a power play goal at 4:28, knotting the game at 1-1.

Youngstown opened the scoring in the second period off a set faceoff play after an offensive zone win, with Cooper Simpson feeding Malachi McKinnon for a one-time blast that popped the bottle behind Chizik at 3:06, putting the Phantoms ahead. Cal Huston earned an assist on the play in his season debut. The Youngstown lead would only last 8 seconds as USA won the ensuing faceoff and caused chaos in front of the Phantom net, allowing Brayden Willis to tap one behind Lepak, tying the game at 2-2.

The Phantoms grabbed the next two, carrying a 4-2 lead to the locker room. Evan Jardine put Youngstown ahead for good at 9:12, his rip from the left circle going off the tip of Chizik's glove and into the twine at 9:12 for his third goal of the year. Rucinski hammered home another power play goal later in the period, putting home his own rebound at 18:26.

Another weird bounce helped USA cut the lead in half early in the third period. After a shot from the right point deflected high in the air towards the net, Lepak came out to attempt catching it, but was contacted by a USA skater outside the blue pain. Lepak was knocked into again, allowing Sawyer Schmidt to sweep home the loose puck at 3:53, trimming the Youngstown lead to 4-3. Coach Ward challenged for goaltender interference, but the goal stood. The lead stood at just one for the Phantoms until there was 1:10 left in regulation. USA Head Coach Greg Moore wanted to use his timeout prior to an offensive zone faceoff, but the officials wanted to review something that had occurred over four minutes prior. After a lengthy review, officials determined that Jack Hextall had scored a power play goal at 5:40, completely changing the complex of the remainder of the game. The clock was set back to the time of the Hextall goal, with Youngstown now leading 5-3. USA pulled Chizik to the bench for the extra attacker, but Hextall scored on the empty net at 18:03, giving Youngstown a 6-3 edge. Jakub Heš fired a shot home from six feet out with 20 seconds left to cap off the scoring.

When the dust settled, Hextall, Jardine, Rucinski, and Simpson all put up three-point nights, with McKinnon and Matti Butkovskiy also chipping in multipoint efforts. Lepak, seeing his first action in almost three weeks, stopped 14/17 to earn his second win of the season.

Youngstown faces off with Green Bay Saturday and Sunday at the Covelli Centre to wrap up their five-game homestand.

By The Numbers
Shots – 35
Saves – 14
Power Play – 3/5
Penalty Kill – 4/5
Goals – Heš, Hextall (2), Jardine, McKinnon, Rucinski (2)
Assists – Berard, Butkovskiy, Hextall, Huston, Jardine (2), McKinnon, Rucinski, Simpson (3), Thompson, Willson