Survive and Advance: Phantoms Top Madison 8-4 to Move on to Round 2

April 18, 2024 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Youngstown Phantoms News Release

Youngstown, OH - The Youngstown Phantoms advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals after an impressive 8-4 victory over the Madison Capitols Wednesday night at the Covelli Centre. The Phantoms now sit at 8-2 all-time in games where they can clinch a series win. Phantoms Head Coach Ryan Ward is glad his young group had to go through adversity in their first-round matchup.

"It's good to get the series win obviously. We have a resilient group. We have a young group so going through this now will help them now and in the future. I thought they did a great job," Ward said. "You cannot replace experience and the only way to get it is to go through it. It is a massively important part of our process not only this year but going forward."

The Phantoms' hot offense from last night carried over into Game 3 as they put up three goals in the opening frame. Ryan Rucinski got the scoring started for the Phantoms at 8:06 after he located a rebound off the Madison goalie's pads to the right of the crease and poked it into the back of the cage. At 10:09, Kuzma Voronin extended the Phantoms lead when he received the puck in the corner, walked to the edge of the circle, and roofed a backhand shot past Carsen Musser. Rucinski liked his taste of twine from earlier, so he went back for more, scoring his second goal of the night just 51 seconds after the Voronin tally. The Ohio native sent a ripper from the right dot that blasted through Musser's five hole to give Youngstown a 3-0 lead at the first intermission.

The score remained 3-0 until late in the second period until a Youngstown clearing attempt hit a player on the Madison bench, stayed in play and bounced to Sam Rice. When the officials didn't blow the play dead, Rice fed Austin Burnevik, who fired a laser from the blue line past Aiden Wright at 5:28 to put Madison on the board. Youngstown answered back in the final minute of the middle frame when Brecken Smith picked the pocket of a Capitol in the neutral zone, flashed nifty stick work to cut to the net, and slipped a backhander through the five hole of Musser to give the Phantoms a 4-1 lead.

A pair of Phantom miscues in the first 130 seconds of the third period saw a three-goal lead quickly shrink down to one. Max Nagel was the first Capitol to take advantage of the Phantoms miscue just 43 seconds into the frame when he picked the top corner to the glove side on Wright with a snapper from the left dot. Just over a minute later, Diego Johnson collected a misplayed puck and fired it past Wright, making the score 4-3. Despite the slow start to the period, the Phantoms answered the two Madison goals with two of their own. Tory Pitner was the first to get on the board in the period when he sneaked in the backdoor and fired a one-timer to the back of the cage at 3:03. The Phantoms lead stretched back to three at 8:47 when Conner de Haro loosed a missile past Musser from the top of the left circle, thanks to the great work of Ryan Botterill keeping the play alive. Nagel picked up his second of the night and fifth of the postseason at 12:40, finishing a nice back-to-front play, trimming the Youngstown lead back to two.

Youngstown shut down any hopes of a Madison comeback just under two minutes later, however. At 14:20, Rucinski notched his third goal of the game, completing his first USHL hat trick, as he cruised down the slot and received a beautiful centering feed from Nathan Lewis that he blasted past Musser to extend the Phantoms lead back to three at 7-4. The Capitols coaching staff pulled Musser with 3:34 left in the game with hopes of a late comeback, but Tomas Machu put the game on ice when he fired a loose puck 190 feet to the empty net, capping off the 8-4 victory.

Wright denied 19 of the 23 Capitol shots on the night, while Musser stopped 24 of 31 shots for Madison.

The Phantoms will travel to Dubuque, Iowa to take on the Dubuque Fighting Saints for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals on Saturday. Puck drop is slated for 8:05pm Eastern. Game 2 will be Sunday at 6:05pm. The Phantoms will return to the Covelli Centre on Tuesday to host Games 3 and 4 (if necessary).

By the Numbers

Shots - 32

Saves - 19

Power Play - 0/1

Penalty Kill - 3/3

Goals - de Haro, Machu, Pitner, Rucinski (3), Smith, Voronin

Assists - Botterill (3), Hanrahan, Lewis, Smith

Youngstown Phantoms battle the Madison Capitols (Scott Galvin/Scott Galvin Photography)

United States Hockey League Stories from April 18, 2024

• Green Bay Advances to Second Round in Dramatic Fashion - Green Bay Gamblers
• Steel Season Ends in Overtime Loss - Chicago Steel
• Storm Wins Opening Round Series Over Stampede - Tri-City Storm
• Herd Season Ends with Game 3 Loss in Kearney - Sioux Falls Stampede
• Survive and Advance: Phantoms Top Madison 8-4 to Move on to Round 2 - Youngstown Phantoms
• Bracket Set for 2024 Clark Cup Conference Semifinals - USHL

The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Youngstown Phantoms Stories

• Coleson Hanrahan Wins 2025 Curt Hammer Award
• Phantoms Sign Logan Anderson to Tender Agreement
• Special Teams Play Dooms Phantoms in 6-2 Game 2 Loss
• Phantoms Can't Overcome Early Deficit in 5-3 Game 1 Loss
• Phantoms Clinch First Place with Dominant 6-1 Win Over Team USA