The Youngstown Phantoms took to the road for a pair of games this past weekend.  Unfortunately the result was the same in both games, and the defense and goaltending seem to be struggling.  The positive to take from the two losses was the spirit of the team to fight back and make both games respectably close after trailing by larger deficits.

On Friday, the Phantoms were in Lincoln, Nebraska.  In a rare high-scoring affair, the Phantoms ended up on the short side of the stick in a 7-6 OT loss to the Lancers.  Ben Lynch spearheaded the victory for Lincoln when he connected on his second power-play goal in overtime for the win.  A Taylor Holstrom goal, his second of the game, put the Phantoms in front 6-4 in the third period.  Lincoln would rally on goals from Garrett Peterson and Andrew Ammon to tie the contest and force the extra period.

Saturday found the Phantoms a little closer to home in Des Moines to face the Buccaneers.  Yasin Casse scored for Des Moines just 18 seconds into the second period to give Des Moines a 3-0 lead.  Adam Berkle answered for the Phantoms just six seconds later to cut the lead to 3-1.  Brett Gensler and Nick Czinder scored a goal apiece for Youngstown over the next four minutes to tie the game at 3.  Connor Brickley converted on a power-play chance for Des Moines at the 2:52 mark of the third period with the eventual game-winning goal.  The Buccaneers Ryan Walters knocked in an empty-net goal to close the scoring at 5-3 in favor of the home team.

Youngstown (2-3-0) returns home for two games on Friday and Saturday against Tri-City.  Each game will start at 7:15 and Friday is $1 beer night.