Youngstown Phantoms forwards Taylor Holstrom and Brett Gensler have played together on the same line for much of the season and also get along well off the ice. Friday night, the two USHL veterans combined to deliver a pulsating shootout win.
Gensler scored in the fifth round to extend the shootout and Holstrom netted a clinching backhand deke in the seventh to send the Phantoms to a 4-3 triumph over the Sioux City Musketeers at Covelli Center. The win was Youngstown’s first on home ice since Jan. 18, ending a seven-game losing streak in northeast Ohio.
After a nip-and-tuck third period that saw Sioux City’s Stephan Vigier tie the game just three minutes after Jiri Sekac gave the Phantoms (17-32-3, 37 points) the lead at 13:33, the two teams skated a scoreless overtime to set up Youngstown’s second-straight shootout. The Purple and Orange dropped a 5-4 decision to Tri-City in the tiebreaker last Saturday after rallying late to tie.
The Musketeers (20-23-8, 48 points) are also no stranger to the skills competition, having played in a league-leading 11, and it showed in the second round as Alex Krushelnyski threw a backhander under the crossbar from in tight to put the visitors on top. Sekac responded with a backhand of his own, freezing goalie Matt Skoff with a shoulder fake before depositing his third shootout goal of the year in three attempts.
The 1-1 tie held up until the fifth round, when Tommy Olczyk slid a forehand shot around Jordan Tibbett, whose play was one of the primary reasons Youngstown made it to overtime. Tibbett set a franchise record with 48 saves on 51 Sioux City shots, snapping his old mark of 46 set Nov. 6.
Gensler faced a do-or-die situation in the last of the fifth, but the second-year winger pushed the puck between Skoff’s pads to extend the shootout to extra frames. Following saves by Tibbett on Sioux City’s Danny Wurden and Nick Sorkin, Holstrom sent the home crowd into a frenzy, slipping a shot under Skoff’s extended right leg.
The Phantoms are now 2-2-1 in their past five and have garnered points in back-to-back games for the first time since Dec. 4-5 versus the Chicago Steel. Sioux City has suffered two straight overtime losses, but the Musketeers are still on a four-game unbeaten streak, going 2-0-2 as they try to keep playoff hopes alive.
Former Musketeer Tom Serratore haunted his former club with a bullet-like slap shot from above the left circle just more than two minutes into the game. Serratore played 69 games in Sioux City over the past two seasons, racking up seven goals; he now has twice that number in 50 games with Youngstown.
Jefferson Dahl soon joined Serratore in the 14-goals club, one-timing Sekac’s pass from behind the goal at 9:17 for a 2-0 Phantoms advantage. Dahl, Serratore and Sekac each finished with a goal and an assist each.
Vigier nailed his first of the game and 20th of the season from the right post with 7:40 left in the first to cut the lead in half. Tibbett denied Olczyk’s left wing shot during an extended Sioux City power play, but the rebound flipped directly to Vigier.
Olczyk set up the next goal as well, wiring a wrister on net that Sorkin deflected for his first as a Musketeer at 1:20 of the second to tie the game.
The Phantoms and Musketeers lock horns again Saturday on Go Green at the Rink Night at 7:15 p.m. Iceburgh, official mascot of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, will be available for photos and autographs! In addition, Phantoms fans who bring five aluminum beverage cans to Covelli Centre will receive a half-priced ticket. Bring in 12 cans and get five chances to win an aluminum Trek Lime Light bicycle; recycling drive and contest presented by Novelis.
Courtesy: Youngstown Phantoms
