BOX SCORE

YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO – The Youngstown Phantoms (24-7-2-1, 51pts) got a pair of goals from Evan Jardine, points from eight different players, and a 7-for-7 effort from their penalty kill as they downed the Des Moines Buccaneers 4-1 Saturday night at the Covelli Centre. The win ran the Phantoms' point streak to seven games.

"I thought it was a complete game," said Phantoms Head Coach Ryan Ward. "An old fashioned, Saturday night Youngstown Phantoms hockey game. The crowd was electric. Our guys were into it from the drop of the puck. Couldn't be more proud of how they stood up for each other. We can beat teams in different ways. (Des Moines) wanted to come in here with a burr in their saddle, we've got no problem with that."

Youngstown opened the scoring at 14:51 of the first period when Kazumo Sasaki put home the rebound of Cooper Simpson's shot. Simpson made a beautiful toe drag to the middle to create the shooting opportunity and then made an equally deft move to jump out of Sasaki's shooting lane and allow him to fire into the empty net. Des Moines tied the game at 18:37 when Jakub Dubravik redirected a centering feed into the twine right after the start of a 4-on-4.

The second period was full of fireworks as the teams combined for 13 penalties in the middle frame, resulting in two fights, one Youngstown power play, two Des Moines power plays, and a pair of Youngstown goals. Evan Jardine took full advantage of the Youngstown power play, as the Phantoms needed just 12 seconds on the man advantage for Jardine to cash in. Taking a pass at the edge of the blue paint, Jardine backed his way to his forehand and lifted a shot to the back of the net at 2:39, putting Youngstown in front 2-1. It was Jardine's first goal since November 22, snapping a seven-game drought. It was also the 21^st power play goal of Jardine's career, tying him with Kiefer Sherwood for second all-time on the Phantoms' power play goal list, one behind record-holder Shane Lachance. Just over 90 seconds later, Cal Huston tacked on an insurance goal for the Phantoms, snapping a shot five-hole from the bottom of the right circle at 4:15 to put Youngstown ahead 3-1.

Between the Huston goal and 13:52 of the third period, Des Moines was awarded four-straight power plays, but the Phantoms killed all of them off, going a perfect 7-for-7 on the night and 11-for-11 on the weekend. Youngstown opponents are 1-for-44 on the power play against the Phantoms since Thanksgiving (13 games). Just after killing off the seventh penalty of the night, Jardine scored on the empty net, firing the puck over 180 feet into the empty twine to cap off the scoring. It was the second multi-goal game of the season for Jardine, fifth of his career.

Tobias Trejbal won his league-leading 17^th game of the year, stopping 23-of-24. Andrei Nikolayev stopped 17-of-20 in his USHL debut, taking the loss for the Bucs.

Youngstown will face the U17s on Wednesday night at the Covelli Centre before opening up a three-in-three, two-city series with Muskegon next weekend.

By The Numbers
Shots – 21
Saves – 23
Power Play – 1/3
Penalty Kill – 7/7
Goals – Huston, Jardine (2), Sasaki
Assists – Hamilton, Hextall (2), Huston, Rucinski, Simpson, Willson