The Green Bay Gamblers peppered Youngstown with shots all night but couldn’t find enough offense to finish the job, falling 4-2 to the Phantoms Saturday at the Covelli Centre.
Green Bay struck first late in the opening period when Cameron Wooten buried his third goal of the season off assists from Ethan Timm and Nate Kultgen. Youngstown responded quickly with a power-play goal from Alex Rucinski to tie it 1-1 heading into the break.
The Phantoms took control in the second period behind a pair of goals from Ryan Simpson, one on the power play, to jump ahead 3-1. Liam O’Sullivan gave the Gamblers life with his first goal of the season late in the frame, trimming the deficit to one.
Despite outshooting Youngstown 30-24 and generating several quality looks in the third, Green Bay couldn’t find the equalizer. Marek Kuchar?ík sealed it for the Phantoms with an empty-netter in the final minute to make it 4-2.
Goaltender Jake Slavick stopped 20 shots for the Gamblers, while Tomas Trejbal turned away 28 for Youngstown. Green Bay went 0-for-2 on the power play and dropped to 1-4 on the season.
