The Youngstown Phantoms (11-18-2,24pts) fell to the Muskegon Lumberjacks (13-11-6,32pts) 6-2 on Friday night at the L.C. Walker Arena.   Mike Ambrosia scored his first power play goal of the year and Jordan Young picked up two assists in his first game back since December 31.

After failing to score on their first power play of the period, the Phantoms did not waste their second man advantage when Mike Ambrosia scored to put the Phantoms up 1-0. The goal was assisted by Stu Higgins and Young. The go ahead goal was scored with 5:09 left in the period. Just over a minute later, the Lumberjacks responded and tied the game at one on a goal by Isaac Kohls. The Phantoms continued to pressure Jacks netminder Paul Berrafato, but they could not find their second goal of the period and both teams went into the break tied at one. The Phantoms outshot Muskegon 14-11 and were 1 for 2 on the man advantage.

“I thought the first period was very even,” said Head Coach Curtis Carr. “Each team had their opportunities but both goalies played well to keep the game tied.”

An unusually quiet period between the Phantoms and Lumberjacks resulted in no penalties against either team but three unanswered goals by the Jacks sent the Phantoms into the break down 4-1. With 3:10 remaining in the frame, Alexx Privitera beat Matthew O’Connor with a wrist shot from the near circle. Less than a minute later, Mike Moran scored on a rebound in front of the Phantoms net to put Muskegon up 3-1. With 15 seconds left in the second period, Muskegon scored their fourth unanswered goal as Charlie Taft took a centering pass and beat O’Connor to put the Lumberjacks up 4-1 heading into the final period. The Phantoms were outshot 16-7 in the frame and trailed in shots 27-21.

“We had three bad breakdowns in the second,” said Carr. “We got away from our game plan and made some bad decisions with the puck. We tried to make some highlight real plays and they hurt us.”

The Phantoms peppered Berrafato with 13 shots but could not find the back of the net in the first 14 minutes of the third period. With 5:47 remaining in the period, Lumberjacks forward Isaac Kohls scored his second goal of the game to put the Phantoms down 5-1. With 4:18 left in the game, the Lumberjacks added another goal, this one from Chris Lochner, to put the Phantoms down 6-1. Phantoms forward Higgins was able to score on the power play, giving the Phantoms two power play goals on the night. The goal was assisted by Kevin Liss and Young at 1:37. To no one’s surprise, this rivalry continued to heat up as a total of 14 penalty minutes were issued in the final 2:30 of play. The shot totals were 40-36 in favor of the Phantoms.

“You have to give their goalie a lot of credit,” said Carr. “We know we need to put pucks and bodies on the net. Our game plan focuses around that and their goalie played extremely well stopping 38 of 40 shots.”

The Phantoms will take on Team USA tomorrow night at 7:00p.m. (EST). The Phantoms are 1-0-1 against the National Development Program this season and the most recent matchup came last week as the Phantoms fell 4-3 in their first shootout of the season.

“It should not be too hard to motivate our guys for tomorrow,” said Carr. “Anytime you play a team as good as the National Team you know you need to bring your best game. We know we need to be better and I expect us to be ready to go.”