Phantoms Complete the Sweep with 5-3 Win
October 4, 2008 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Mahoning Valley Phantoms News Release
WYANDOTTE, MI - The Mahoning Valley Phantoms found some late offense and pulled away for a 5-3 win over Detroit's Motor City Machine Saturday night.
Jordy Trottier scored two goals within a minute and a half of eachother five minutes into the third period. At the 14:24 mark he spun and swatted home a Brandon Saad centering feed for a 4-2 Phantoms lead. With 12:57 left, Trottier intercepted a wayward Motor City breakout pass, deked out Machine goaltender Zach Hansen and slid home an insurance goal through the five-hole.
Trottier said that the second goal was the result of being in the right place at the right time.
"The forecheckers were doing a great job," says Trottier, "and forced the [Motor City] defenseman to panic and make a bad pass. I was coming in off a line change, picked it up, sucked the goalie in with the move and put it home."
The tallies tie Trottier with Erik Higby for the team lead in goals with four.
Garrett Bartus stopped 24 of 27 Machine shots on the way to his second win of the season. Phantoms Assistant Coach Curtis Carr says that Bartus made the difference while his team was on the penalty kill Saturday night.
"They always say your best penalty killer has to be your goalie," Carr said, "and tonight we were fortunate that Garrett was there to be the stopper when we got out of our gameplan a couple times tonight."
Mahoning Valley's league-leading penalty killing unit killed off all seven Motor City power plays, extending its streak to 36 straight successful penalty kills.
Brandon Saad opened the scoring after his centering feed deflected off Hansen and in just 59 seconds into the game. Alex Lippincott and Cole Schneider also added markers for the Phantoms (5-0-1, 11 pts), who moved into sole possession of second place in the North Division behind Traverse City (6-2-0, 12 pts).
The Phantoms will resume North Division play on October 17th when they travel to Alpena, MI, to take on the Alpena IceDiggers.
The Mahoning Valley Phantoms are owned by the B.J. Alan Company - Phantom Fireworks, located in Youngstown, Ohio.
North American Hockey League Stories from October 4, 2008
- U.S. Nat'l U18 Team Falls to Michigan, 4-1 - U.S. National Team
- Phantoms Complete the Sweep with 5-3 Win - Mahoning Valley Phantoms
- Stars broom Diggers in OT, 5-4 - Traverse City North Stars
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