Phantoms and North Stars Do OT Again
January 2, 2009 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Mahoning Valley Phantoms News Release
TRAVERSE CITY, MI (Friday, January 2nd, 2009) - The Mahoning Valley Phantoms offense kept rolling but a late rally by the Traverse City North Stars forced overtime and a shootout, where the North Stars prevailed by a final of 5-4 Friday night.
It is the third straight meeting between the two teams that has gone past regulation. The Phantoms are 1-0-2 in those three games.
With the Phantoms leading 4-2 in the last two minutes of the third period, North Stars defenseman Phil Wendecker fired a slap shot from the Phantoms' blue line that deflected off a stick in front and past Mahoning Valley goaltender Jordan Tibbett to close the gap to 4-3 with 1:09 left.
Just 18 seconds later, Traverse City's Mike Schenfeld found teammate Kyle Bonis alone in front of the Phantoms net; Bonis waited out Tibbett and snuck a wrist shot inside the right post to tie the game at four with 51 seconds left to force overtime.
Neither team was able to find the back of the net in the extra frame, forcing the decisive shootout.
In the seven-round affair, Erik Higby and Stefan Salituro scored for the Phantoms, while Kyle Jean, Josh Miller and David Johnstone scored for the North Stars to deliver the improbable 5-4 comeback win for Traverse City.
Nick Kenney scored twice for the Phantoms, including a power play goal in the second period, tripling his goals total on the year from one to three. Kenney's linemate Nick Shkreli added a goal and two assists for Mahoning Valley.
Also scoring for the Phantoms was Alex Lippincott.
Tibbett (14-3-1) made 29 saves in the shootout loss; the three shootout goals for the North Stars were the first allowed by Tibbett all season in either the shootout or overtime. Traverse City's Brandon Stephenson stopped 27 and improved his record to 10-3-3 in 2008-2009.
The Phantoms (17-7-3, 41 pts) gained a point with the overtime loss but saw their lead for first place trimmed to just two points by the resurgent North Stars (17-6-5, 39 pts).
The two teams continue their three game series at Centre ICE Arena Saturday night at 7:05 PM.
The game will be broadcast locally on ESPN Radio 1240, WBBW, and worldwide at MVPPhantoms.com via B2 Networks. The pregame show will begin at 6:50 PM.
North American Hockey League Stories from January 2, 2009
- RoadRunners Bring in 2009 with a Win at Landon Arena - Topeka Pilots
- Alpena Drops Rangers - Marquette Rangers
- Phantoms and North Stars Do OT Again - Mahoning Valley Phantoms
- U.S. Nat'l U18 Team Falls to Maine, 7-3 - U.S. National Team
- U.S. Falls To Slovakia In World Juniors - U.S. National Team
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