Staff photo / Brian Yauger Youngstown Phantoms forward Cooper Simpson celebrates after his second period goal against Muskegon. It’s Simpson’s 29th goal this season.

YOUNGSTOWN — Whether they knew it or not, area students across the Mahoning Valley learned an important lesson from Wednesday’s Youngstown Phantoms game.

The details matter.

After getting swept by Muskegon over Valentine’s Day weekend, the Phantoms made the most of their final regular-season meeting with the rival Lumberjacks, downing Muskegon 5-1.

“I thought we were good from the start,” Phantoms coach Ryan Ward said. “I thought we played much tighter. Our details were way better. Two pretty good teams going at it. Overall, I thought our guys did a good job just paying attention to the details, and the power play was excellent. PK was good again. Complete game. Maybe we should play all our games at 10:30.”

After an overturned goal early, Cooper Simpson got the Phantoms on the board on the power play, scoring his 28th of the season.

His 29th goal would come soon after.

After Wednesday’s game, Simpson is tied for first in the USHL in points with Lincoln forward Alex Pelletier. They both have 66 points this season. Simpson has recorded 29 goals and 37 assists.

That 37th assist came later in the second period, with Simpson picking up the assist on Ryan Rucinski’s power play goal.

With that goal, Rucinski set the team record for most power play goals in a season with 16.

The Phantoms added to their lead near the midway point of the third period, with Alexander Svitov setting Jakub Hes up with a quick tap-in.

Muskegon spoiled the shutout in the final five minutes of the contest, with Nathan Larioza getting the goal.

Phantoms forward Lenny Boos capped the game off with an empty-netter.

Netminder Tobias Trejbal finished the game with 22 saves. The Phantoms don’t get outshot often, but Trejbal withstood the attack. The goaltender also earned an assist on Rucinski’s goal.

“He’s probably the top goalie in the (2026) NHL draft,” Ward said. “I thought he played like it down the stretch.”

With 12 games remaining in the regular season, the Phantoms (35-11-3-1, 74 points) sit in first place in the Eastern Conference. When the team is gelling, there aren’t many teams that can stop them, but it all comes back to details.

“We were the better team, I thought the majority of last weekend, and unfortunately, we had some hiccups that shouldn’t happen,” Ward said. “At the end of the day, when you take care of the details and you take pride in your defensive side of the game, it usually springboards into offense. We thought we were much better tonight.”

The Phantoms are on the road in Wisconsin this weekend as they take on the Eastern Conference’s second seed, the Green Bay Gamblers. They have a two-game set scheduled for Friday and Saturday.

Youngstown needs just four points to clinch a playoff spot.

GOLDEN PHANTOM

Former Youngstown Phantoms forward Kyle Connor (2012-2015) became the first Phantoms player to win an Olympic medal, earning the gold alongside Team USA.

Connor played in two games for Team USA during the tournament.