Late Goal Lifts Muskegon Past Phantoms 3-1
December 5, 2020 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Youngstown Phantoms News Release
YOUNGSTOWN, OH - The Youngstown Phantoms (1-3-0-0, 2 points) held the USHL's top scoring team to less than half of their normal offensive output, but could only get one puck into the Muskegon net as they fell to the Lumberjacks 3-1 Friday night at the Covelli Centre.
"Sholl was terrific tonight," said Phantoms Head Coach Brad Patterson. "It's probably not a 1-1 game with two minutes left without him in the net...the guys knew they needed to do it the hard way tonight, and they did that for the most part. I'm very upbeat, regardless of the score or how the game looked. I know the type of character that we have in the room, and I'm excited to grow as a group."
A lucky bounce spotted Muskegon a 1-0 lead late in the first period. Dylan Wendt ripped a wrist shot from the right circle past Mattias Sholl (35 saves) but off the crossbar. While Sholl looked around for the puck, it bounced right to the stick of Cameron Berg. Berg whacked the puck into the empty cage at 15:49 to stake the visitors to the lead.
Youngstown got a lucky bounce of their own to tie the game. Muskegon forward Danil Gushchin attempted a breakout pass from the left-wing wall of his own zone into the middle of the ice, but it was stolen away by Reilly Funk. Funk skated in on Christian Stoever (11 saves) from the top of the circles and snapped a wrist shot past Stoever blocker-side to even the game at 1-1 exactly halfway through regulation.
Gushin got his revenge late in the third period. The San Jose Sharks draft pick poked a puck away from a Youngstown defender at the Muskegon blue line and raced down ice. With Sholl completely committing to the shot from Gushchin, the Russian was able to elevate a pass over a sprawled out Phantom defender to John Farinacci, who tapped it into the net, finishing a perfectly executed 2-on-1 break at 17:51. Christophe Tellier scored on the empty net at 19:45 to cap off the scoring.
Youngstown and Muskegon return to the ice tomorrow at 7:05pm.
By the Numbers
Shots - 12
Saves - 35
Power Play - 0/1
Penalty Kill - 3/3
Goals -Funk
Assists - none
Box Score - https://www.ushl.com/view/#/game-summary/9304
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