BOX SCORE

YOUNGSTOWN, OH – Lifted by a trio of power play goals, the Green Bay Gamblers downed the Youngstown Phantoms (31-16-0-1, 63pts) 4-3 Saturday night at the Covelli Centre. The loss snapped Youngstown's six-game winning streak and dropped them back to fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

"I think we started slow in the first, just a couple of mental mistakes. I thought we really took over the game after that as far as five-on-five goes," said Phantoms Head Coach Ryan Ward. "For a three-in-three I thought our effort was good enough to win. Couple of unlucky bounces here and there, but I thought the guys played well all weekend."

Youngstown found themselves in a 1-0 hole just 5:30 into the game when Egor Shilov danced around a pair of Phantom defenders and snapped a wrister past Melvin Strahl (28 saves) from the mid-slot. The Phantoms grabbed the next two, a redirect by Jamison Sluys at 15:17 and a beautiful backhander by Jakub Heš at 16:25 to put Youngstown in front. Sluys had three points on the night, bringing him to 90 for his USHL career.

The Gamblers sandwiched a pair of power play goals around a Youngstown marker in the second period. The USHL's leading goal-scorer Will Zellers lasered a wrister from the right dot at 2:32 to tie the game at 2-2. Phantoms captain Coleson Hanrahan snapped a wrister from the slot past Roberto Henriquez (32 saves) at 3:55 for his fifth of the season, temporarily putting Youngstown back in front 3-2, but Vasily Zelenov stuffed a power play goal home at 6:47 to knot the game at 3-3.

A Youngstown penalty nine seconds into the third period gave Green Bay the opening they needed to net the game winner. Just 1:33 into the final period, Zellers blasted home a one-timer from the right circle for his second of the game, giving the Gamblers a lead they would not relinquish.

Youngstown took the season series from Green Bay 4-2, but tonight's loss combined with wins by Madison and Muskegon dropped the Phantoms back into fourth in the Eastern Conference. Youngstown opens a massive three-in-three series with the Capitols starting Wednesday.

By The Numbers
Shots – 35
Saves – 28
Power Play – 0/4
Penalty Kill – 2/5
Goals –Hanrahan, Heš, Sluys
Assists –Benák, Murphy (2), Sluys (2)