PHANTOMS DROP SEESAW BATTLE WITH MADISON 7-5 LATE POWER PLAY GOAL FOR CAPITOLS SINKS YOUNGSTOWN

YOUNGSTOWN, OH – A power play goal by the visitors with 4:22 left in regulation was the deciding factor Friday night at the Covelli Centre as the Youngstown Phantoms (5-8-1-0, 11pts) fell 7-5 to the Madison Capitols.

Capitols defenseman Logan Lutner was unmolested in the right circle and fired a wrister past a heavily screened Nikita Oleksiienko just past the halfway point of the Madison power play. The Capitols’ power play was 2-for-6 on the night.

Madison grabbed a 1-0 lead just 95 seconds into the game as Grady Schmidt’s wrister from the left point beat Owen Lepak cleanly to the glove side. Caleb Pittsley cashed in at 3:40 as a turnover by the Phantoms in front of their own net led to a mini 2-on-0 at the edge of the crease, giving Pittsley the easy conversion.

Youngstown cut the lead in half at 14:00, when Lukas Zajic’s power play one-timer beat Cash Cruitt just 4 seconds into the Phantoms’ advantage. Madison scored off the rush 26 seconds later as Pittsley scored his second of the game, which also prompted Phantoms Head Coach Nathan Paetsch to pull Lepak in favor of Oleksiienko.

“I didn’t like our energy at the start,” said Paetsch of his quick hook on the goaltender. “This is the second Friday in a row we haven’t started on time, and I’ve got to do a better job of getting the team ready.”

Paetsch was immediately rewarded with a change of momentum after the third Madison goal as Malachi McKinnon banked a shot off Cruitt’s back and into the cage just 8 seconds after the second Pittsley goal to trim the Madison lead back to one at 3-2. Youngstown rode their momentum surge into the second period, scoring back-to-back goals to take the lead. Zajic converted a 5-on-3 power play goal at 5:45 for his second of the night. Mitchell Mars gave the Phantoms their only lead of the night at 7:56 when his backhander at the edge of the blue paint beat Cruitt, giving Mars his first USHL goal and Youngstown a 4-3 lead.

Madison scored the next two, a power play goal from Daniel Halonen at 15:02 of the second and then a snapper on the rush from Bryce Wiitala at 3:14 of the third to put the Capitols back in front. Youngstown answered with a power play goal from Kamden Kaiser at 8:01 to knot the game at 5-5, but it was a questionable holding call on Kaiser at 14:27 that led to the go-ahead goal for Lutner and the subsequent empty net goal for Max Rider that capped off the night for Madison.

The Phantoms and Capitols wrap up their weekend set with a 6:00pm puck drop Saturday night at the Covelli Centre.

Shots – 27

Saves – 23

Power Play – 3/5

Penalty Kill – 4/6

Goals – Kaiser, Mars, McKinnon, Zajic (2)

Assists – Cover, Kaiser, McKinnon (3), Mikes, Orlowsky, Pietila, Spencer (2)

Box Score - https://ushl.com/ht/#/game-center/13581