Phantoms Rally Past Machine, Into First Place
November 30, 2008 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Mahoning Valley Phantoms News Release
YOUNGSTOWN, OH (Sunday, November 30th, 2008) - The Mahoning Valley Phantoms rallied to erase a two-goal third period deficit on their way to a 4-3 overtime win over the Motor City Machine at the Chevrolet Centre on Sunday night.
The win propelled the Phantoms (15-5-2, 32 pts) back into first place ahead of the Traverse City North Stars (14-4-3, 31 pts) in the North Division standings.
Trailing 3-1 after two periods of play, the Phantoms began their third period rally when Nick Kenney powered a rebound past Motor City netminder Matt Margitan just 1:57 into the period.
Defenseman Cullen Lundholm forced overtime with his second goal of the year-a power play marker with just 10 seconds remaining-when he fired a slapshot that beat Margitan high to the stick side to tie the game at three.
After the game, Lundholm said patience was the key to his equalizer.
"We got the man advantage with 1:51 left so we pulled the goalie and worked it around to try and tire them out," said the Phantoms' top-scoring defender. "Finally the top guy on their penalty kill tired out, so [Erik] Higby slipped me the puck and I had a ton of time and space to take the shot."
Just 54 seconds into overtime, Phantoms leading scorer Brandon Saad grabbed the rebound from a Jordan Tibbett save and streaked up the right side and snapped a game-winning shot under the right elbow of Margitan to push Mahoning Valley back to the top of the North Division.
Saad, who had a short-handed breakaway foiled by Margitan in the third period, said he was happy to convert in OT.
"It was beautiful to finally get the one we needed," said Saad. "It felt great."
Phantoms Head Coach and General Manager Bob Mainhardt said that his team turned the tide in third by turning up the intensity.
"It was just a wake-up call [to be trailing 3-1]," said Mainhardt, "we knew we were getting outworked. So we decided to start outworking them, moving our feet and winning battles for the puck-and when you do that, good things happen."
Motor City built their 3-1 lead on second period goals from Trevor John, Mike Monfredo and Jake Friedman. Friedman and John's goals came on the power play as the Machine went 2-for-6 with the man advantage Sunday night.
Nick Shkreli opened the scoring with a power play goal with 8:15 left in the first period. The goal capped a stellar November for Shkreli, who scored two goals and notched seven assists in the month. The Phantoms finished 2-for-5 on the power play.
Jordan Tibbett (12-2-0) made 15 saves in the win. Tibbett also capped off a strong November in which he went 8-0-0 with one shutout.
Machine goalie Margitan was the hard-luck loser, finishing with 31 saves in his first start for Motor City.
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North American Hockey League Stories from November 30, 2008
- Motor City Shut Out by Alpena, 1-0 - Motor City Metal Jackets
- Friedman Nets a Pair as Motor City Disrupts Bandits, 5-3 - Motor City Metal Jackets
- Phantoms Rally Past Machine, Into First Place - Mahoning Valley Phantoms
- U.S. Nat'l U18 Team Blanks Manhattanville, 2-0 - U.S. National Team
- Stars Drop Scorefest, 8-5 - Traverse City North Stars
- Jr. Blues Rally to Beat Owatonna 6-4; Take Three of Possible Four Points On The Road - Springfield Jr. Blues
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