Phantoms Fall to Ice 5-2 But Clinch Playoff Berth with Lumberjacks' Loss
Published on March 9, 2012 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Youngstown Phantoms News Release
INDIANAPOLIS - It was a role-reversal Friday night at the Pepsi Coliseum as the Youngstown Phantoms fell 5-2 to the Indiana Ice. The loss came just two nights after the Phantoms (29-15-5, third East) captured a 6-3 win over the Ice (29-13-6, second East) at the Covelli Centre in the first game of the home-and-home series.
It was a bittersweet night for the Phantoms, who clinched the franchises' first playoff berth minutes before the final horn sounded when the Muskegon Lumberjacks fell 3-1 to the Chicago Steel.
Dylan Margonari scored a short-handed goal to extend his point-scoring streak to 12 straight games and Sam Anas tallied one on the power play for the Phantoms, who were stymied by Ice goaltender Jon Gillies on all other attempts. Phantoms backup Sean Romeo did a yeoman's work in net, turning away 48 of 53 shots -- coming up one save short of the league high this season.
"Romeo made some big saves to keep us in the game for awhile," Head Coach Anthony Noreen said. "I thought he was good.
"We didn't come out from the drop of the puck with the effort we wanted," left wing Mike Ambrosia said. "They got three goals on us right away and kind of put us on our heels a little bit.
"Obviously it's nice to know we're in the playoffs, but we still have a lot of work to do."
The Ice jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period. Kirill Lebedev got it started at the 10:04 mark when he knocked in a rebound on the backdoor. Daniil Tarasov put the Ice up 2-0 on the power play, when he blasted a slap shot from the point right off of a faceoff. Then at the 17:57 mark, Robbie Baillargeon popped in a rebound in the slot off an odd-man rush to give Indiana a three-goal cushion heading into the first intermission.
The Phantoms started the second period short-handed after a carryover penalty, but they nearly capitalized in the first minute. Ryan Lowney made a sprawling clear from his defensive zone and Ambrosia carried it into the offensive zone. The Princeton commit lost his edge at the right circle, but moved the puck from his knees to Austin Cangelosi, who was robbed 1-on-0 by Gillies.
"He's a fantastic goaltender," Ambrosia said. "More often than not, Austin is going to bury that, but Gillies played well all night long."
Anas finally beat Gillies at the 11:39 mark, in the waning seconds of a power play. Ambrosia got the puck in the slot, drew a defender and then dished it to Quinnipiac commit at the bottom of the left circle and he sent a knuckling one-timer five-hole on Gillies to make it a 3-1 game.
But just 67 seconds later Robert Polesello stretched the Ice's lead back to three goals when Cristoval Nieves found him trailing and he wristed the puck past Romeo from the left circle. The Ice would carry the 4-1 lead into the third period.
The Phantoms again started the third period short-handed with a carryover penalty, but this time Margonari made the most of a grade 'A' chance. Baillargeon coughed the puck up at the right circle and Margonari pounced on it, darted to the slot and tucked a clean wrist shot right beneath Gillies' glove to cut the lead in half just 31 seconds into the period.
Indiana though continued to pepper Romeo and at the 5:50 mark Tyler Pham crashed on a loose puck in the slot and smacked it in to give Indiana a three-goal lead once again. The Phantoms pushed to knot the game up in the final 14 minutes, but could not solve Gillies and Ice skated away with the win to overtake Youngstown for the second-place slot in the Eastern Conference standings.
"We still have 11 games left and we can't be looking at the standings every night," Ambrosia said. "We've just got to get back to playing the way we've been playing the past couple weeks and get two points tomorrow night."
United States Hockey League Stories from March 9, 2012
- Phantoms Fall to Ice 5-2 But Clinch Playoff Berth with Lumberjacks' Loss - Youngstown Phantoms
- Gamblers Edge Fighting Saints 3-2 in Overtime - Dubuque Fighting Saints
- Lancers Clinch Postseason Berth with 4-0 Win Over Tri-City - Omaha Lancers
- Chicago Escapes Muskegon with 3-1 Win - Muskegon Lumberjacks
- Fighting Saints Host USHL-Best Gamblers Tonight - Dubuque Fighting Saints
- Tri-City Storm News & Notes - Week 24 - Tri-City Storm
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