Physical Battle Turns Offensive as Phantoms Score Eight
Published on November 28, 2014 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Youngstown Phantoms News Release
MUSKEGON, MI- The Youngstown Phantoms earned their 10th win of the season on Friday night, with an 8-0 shutout over the Muskegon Lumberjacks. Forward Max Letunov tallied a pair of goals, while forward Kyle Connor scored a goal and dished out three assists.
The Phantoms drew first blood 14:51 into the opening period, when a shot from Connor was kicked out by Lumberjacks netminder Jacob Gwillim right to Letunov who fired it in, giving the Phantoms a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Youngstown pushed their lead to 2-0 5:40 into the second, after Connor sent a pass up the ice to forward Ryan Lomberg who brought the puck over the Muskegon line and launched a shot from the top of the near circle that beat Gwillim on the high glove side.
That lead became 3-0 a few minutes later, when forward Matt Alvaro brought the puck over the Muskegon line, draped by a Lumberjacks defender. Driving the net, Alvaro dropped a pass to Connor who slipped it past Gwillim, 13:11 into the second.
The offense continued to fire on all cylinders, as about five minutes later while on the power play, Lomberg took possession of the puck below the goal line and sent a pass to forward Taylor Best who launched a one-timer past Gwillim, extending the Youngstown lead to 4-0.
The Phantoms found the back of the net once more at the end of the frame when defenseman Vas Kolias drove the net and sent a drop pass to forward Bryan Lemos who stuffed it past Gwillim, putting the Phantoms up, 5-0, after two periods.
The Phantoms continued their forward motion in the third, as just 49 seconds into the period on the power play, Connor took a shot on goal that was kicked out right to Letunov who buried his second of the game on the rebound, pushing the Youngstown lead to 6-0. The St. Louis Blues prospect has points in 10 of his last 11 games, accounting for five goals and 12 assists over that span.
"I try not to think about it, but it's always nice to get points and be a leader," said Letunov. "I'm just trying to work hard and help the team win."
The Phantoms' power play struck again roughly five minutes later, when Lemos found forward Trey Bradley in the slot and took a shot that beat Gwillim for his first goal of the season to put the Phantoms up by a 7-0 score, 5:11 into the third period.
"It was a great pass by Lemos who found me in the slot, and everyone's been telling me to shoot more so I took the shot and I saw it trickle in, and I've never been more excited in my life" said Bradley. "There's no better feeling than scoring, especially your first goal. It's been a bumpy ride for me, but I just decided to shoot the puck and it went in."
The Phantoms tacked on one more at the 13:02 mark of the period, when defenseman Ty Farmer sent a pass to forward James Winkler who scored on a wrap around, elevating the Phantoms to an 8-0 lead, and the eventual win.
"You always like when your guys put in the type of effort you ask for, and they get rewarded for it. I thought tonight was a top to bottom effort, and every guy chipped in," said Head Coach Anthony Noreen. "I thought we did a good job of not letting the scoreboard dictate the way we played, and that was one of the things that I was most proud of."
Goaltender Chris Birdsall was perfect on the night, stopping all 30 shots he faced to collect his first career USHL shutout.
"It felt good to finally get my first shutout after three years, and the boys really played hard today and got the job done," remarked Birdsall. "I started thinking about the shutout at the beginning of the third period, but I had to try and keep it out of my mind, but the last five minutes were probably the longest of my USHL career."
"Huge credit goes to Chris Birdsall in getting his first USHL shutout," remarked Noreen. "He was tremendous back there for us. This game was 0-0, and 1-0 for a long time, and he was the reason for that. He made some huge saves for us."
The Phantoms outshot Muskegon, 35-30 on the night, while the power play played a big role in the contest, converting on four of their seven chances.
The two sides wrap up their two-game weekend series on Saturday night in Youngstown, with the faceoff scheduled for 7:05.
United States Hockey League Stories from November 28, 2014
- Physical Battle Turns Offensive as Phantoms Score Eight - Youngstown Phantoms
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