Phantoms take down Team USA, 5-4 in shootout

Staff photo / Dan Hiner
Youngstown Phantoms forward Michael Mesic, center, goes wide left as he’s hit by Team USA’s Drew Schock IV (10) during Friday’s game at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown.

YOUNGSTOWN — Evan Jardine’s shootout goal combined with three stops by goalie Melvin Strahl lifted the Youngstown Phantoms to Friday’s 5-4 victory over the Team USA 18s.

[It’s good’ we came away with the win,” said Coleson Hanrahan whose third-period goal tied the game 4-4 and forced overtime.

“[Mikey Burchill] and I wrote that up,” said Hanrahan who followed up a shot to beat Team USA goalie Patrick Quinlan.

Coming off last Saturday’s 4-0 loss to Dubuque, the shootout win snapped Team USA’s seven-game winning streak.

“We were a little reckless, I didn’t like our process, but we found a way to win,” Phantoms coach Ryan Ward said. “The guys stuck with it.”

Late in the scone period, Team USA defenseman Luke Schairer sent Phantoms forward Kuzma Voronin into the boards behind the USA goal, earning a five-minute checking-from behind penalty. Voronin needed several minutes before skating to the locker room but played in the third period.

The Phantoms managed three shots on goal during the extended power play, but Team USA connected with a shorthanded goal by Andrew O’Neill for a 4-3 lead. Landon Hafele assisted.

Strahl replaced Owen Lepak in goal for the third period.

“I just wanted to get him some work,” Ward said of pulling starter Owen Lepak for Strahl. “He missed a couple of days of practice with an illness.

“[We] figured were were going to need a [big] save in the third period and he was the best guy to get it down.”

Strahl was perfect in the shootout as Jake Stuart shot high, Drew Shock IV shot the puck softly for a glove save and Cole McKinney lost control of the puck to seal the win.

Jardine deked Quinlan to move to his extreme right, then pulled the puck back for an easy tap-in.

Ninety-eight seconds after the opening face-off, the Phantoms took advantage of Quinlan scrambling to get from behind the net. As the goalie, raced to the net front, Jakub Hes fed Landan Resendes for a successful shot at the mostly wide-open net and 1-0 lead.

About six minutes later, the game was tied after McKinney captured a loose puck at the Phantoms blue line.

McKinney raced to the the face-off circle where he beat Lepak for an unassisted goal.

Twenty-three seconds late, McKinney was whistled for interference.

With six seconds remaining in the Phantoms’ power play, defenseman Kazimier Sobieski snapped the tie with a shot from near the blue line. Assisting on the goal were Jack Hextall and Michael Mesic.

Late in the first period, L.J. Mooney erased the Phantoms’ lead when he pounced on a rebound. Skating on a breakaway to the face-off circle to the right of Lepak, Mooney fired into the goalie’s pads then captured the carom for a second shot.

“It was big,” Ward said of scoring twice in the first period against a red-hot team. “I thought [last Saturday’s game] was one of the best games we’ve played all year so the message all week was to replicate the things we did.”

Early in the second period, Team USA took its first lead on defenseman Donny Bracco’s goal from the face-off circle that beat Lepak high.

With Hextall off for interference, the Phantoms made it 3-3 with Breckin Smith’s shorthanded goal. Cal Huston set up Smith.

The Phantoms and Team USA 18s meet again tonight at 6:05 p.m. at the Covelli Centre. Next weekend, the Phantoms will host Team USA 17s for two games.