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Phantoms ‘crisp’ in 4-2 triumph

Correspondent photo / Brian Yauger Yusaku Ando (left) of the Phantoms chases down the puck while Stampede center Will Dineen waits for a pass.

YOUNGSTOWN — The story of Friday’s game for the Youngstown Phantoms was about a lack of energy leading to a loss.

Saturday was a different story. That story being one word — crisp.

Phantoms coach Brad Patterson’s postgame speech resonated with the team as they came out and got a 4-2 win over the Sioux Falls Stampede.

“I thought we were much more direct, crisp with the puck and just advanced it quicker,” Patterson said. “I think that was a big difference, specifically in the first period for us.”

A holding call on the Stampede’s Connor McGinnis set up Trevor Kuntar for a penalty shot, but Kuntar sent it right into the glove of Stampede goaltender Grant Adams.

The game didn’t remain scoreless for much longer as John Beaton maintained his now five-game scoring streak with his seventh goal of the year to give the Phantoms a 1-0 lead.

The sluggish play from Friday didn’t rear its head once the team got the lead, if anything their tenacity ramped up. The Phantoms were no strangers to the dirty areas.

While that’s preferred, Patterson is glad the team isn’t where he wants them to be yet.

“I think on all those facets we were better,” he said. “Were we as good as I want us to be? No, but if we’re there already, I don’t know if that’s much of a process.”

Decision-making was another facet the team improved on, or in Patterson’s words, the team was crisp.

“I thought as far as making decisions with the puck we were just crisp,” Patterson said. “I like to use that word when you’re direct and you’re not soft.”

That crispness led to a goal early in the second period. Just 33 seconds into the stanza, Matthew Cassidy fired a shot to extend the Phantoms’ lead to 2-0.

The Stampede responded with a small stretch of controlling play that led to a goal. Jared Westcott cut the Youngstown lead in half. After Kuntar beat the keeper on the power play, Sioux Falls forward Cameron McDonald cut the lead to 3-2.

“I felt like we kind of gave them about a four or five minute span there (in the second,)” Patterson said. “Then in the third I know they’re pressing and they seem to pinch a lot and they started to generate a little bit there.”

Cassidy scored his second of the night and seventh on the year tipping in the puck into an empty net to clinch the victory.

The Phantoms now sit at 9-6-3-0 (21 points) and sit sixth in the Eastern Conference.

A bright spot from Friday’s game was that the Phantoms had no issues in avoiding penalties. That changed in game two as the Phantoms had 11 penalties, spending nearly a full period’s worth of time on the penalty kill.

Both teams got more and more aggressive as the game went on and it showed with both teams spending significant time in the penalty box.

“I don’t like being in the box and we addressed that at the end of the game,” Patterson said. “I gave them the ‘good news, bad news’ scenario and I know they’re not going to appreciate the first few minutes of practice Monday.”

The team practices Monday in preparation for a three-game road trip over the holiday weekend.

The team will spend their Thanksgiving holiday on the road as they make the trip up to Michigan for a Black Friday matchup against the US National Team Development Program.

“It’s something we look forward to as a group,” Patterson said. “We love spending time together … I know the guys aren’t around their host families and their families at home, but we’re together as a group and sometimes those are the best memories you have over the course of a year.”

Afterward, the Phantoms take to Wisconsin to battle Green Bay on Sunday and Madison on Monday. The Phantoms return home on Dec. 6 to host Team USA.

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