The Mahoning Valley Phantoms are one win away from their fourth straight Robertson Cup Tournament appearance after a 4-0 whitewash of the U.S. National Team to claim a 2-1 series lead in their best-of-five North Division Final.
After missing five weeks to injury, 2009 NAHL Rookie of the Year Brandon Saad returned to the Phantoms’ lineup and racked up two goals and an assist while goalie Jordan Tibbett shut down 32 Nationals shots to propel Mahoning Valley to the shutout.
“It feels great [to be back in the lineup],” said Saad, who scored 29 goals and 18 assists in 47 games during the regular season. “I was skating pretty well out there and I knew I had the support of my teammates and that made my playoff debut a lot easier.”
Things did not start out well for the Phantoms, however, as Team USA carried the play through the opening minutes, outshooting Mahoning Valley by a 7-1 margin until the 6:26 mark of the first period when a puck out of play triggered an official time out and the Phantoms were able to regroup.
Saad opened the scoring nearly six minutes later, grabbing a loose puck in the neutral zone and streaking in on a breakaway into the Nationals’ end, tapping a backhand through the legs of USA netminder Brandon Maxwell for a 1-0 Mahoning Valley lead with 7:04 left in the opening frame.
“Earlier in the year we would have let-downs when we’d face adversity,” said Phantoms Head Coach and General Manager Bob Mainhardt, “but our guys showed their maturity tonight by working through the early lull and getting back to the gameplan.”
Saad would follow up his goal with an assist when he fed brother George Saad in front of Maxwell for a redirection goal with 48 seconds left in the first for a 2-0 lead.
The two teams went scoreless through the second period as Tibbett and Maxwell made numerous big saves, combining to stop 24 shots in the middle frame.
Saad jump-started the Phantoms offense just 2:44 into the third period, though, finishing a 2-on-1 with Josh Bussell with a snapshot over the right leg pad of Maxwell for a 3-0 Phantoms advantage.
Cole Schneider capped the Mahoning Valley scoring with a power play goal with 11:33 left in regulation, gloving down a Stefan Salituro rebound in front of the Team USA net and beating Maxwell glove side for his second goal of the ’09 Playoffs.
For Tibbett, it was his second shutout of the 2008-2009 season; his first shutout came on November 21st—also against the Nationals—in a 3-0 Phantoms win at the Chevrolet Centre.
“We’re all feeling really good right now,” said Tibbett, who improved his 2009 playoff record to 4-2, “we’ve got a lot of confidence heading into Game Four. We know that the way we played tonight, there’s no excuse to not come out flying [Friday].”
Carl Nielsen finished with two assists for the Phantoms, who can advance to their fourth straight Robertson Cup Tournament with a win in Game Four.
Game Four of the best-of-five North Division Final is Friday night at the Chevrolet Centre at 7:15 PM. Every seat in the house for Game Four is on sale for $8.50 while all fans who attended Game Three can redeem their ticket stub for free admittance to Friday’s game.
Courtesy: Mahoning Valley Phantoms
