Thunder race past Phantoms early to earn series sweep

Posted on November 13, 2016

*The Bloomington Thunder won over the Youngstown Phantoms yesterday. (WJBC File Photo)*

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Bloomington scored three times in the first nine minutes of the game and Logan Halladay stopped 28 shots, as the Thunder earned the series sweep of the Youngstown Phantoms with a 4-1 victory on Saturday night at the Covelli Centre.

Following a 3-1 win on Friday night, the Thunder wasted no time in the early going on Saturday en route to their highest scoring first period of the season. Griffin Lunn scored his first career USHL goal just 2:48 into the game and three other players added goals to help Bloomington extend its winning streak to four games.

Lunn’s individual effort gave the Thunder a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, as he gloved the puck out of midair to himself and sent a shot past Phantom goaltender Darion Hanson to make it a 1-0 lead.

The Thunder kept the pressure on Hanson and the Phantoms in the early going. Cameron Burke made it a 2-0 lead when he jammed a rebound past Hanson just 71 seconds after Lunn’s goal. Mitchell Mattson then finished off the first period scoring for the Thunder, chasing Hanson with a deceptive backhander from the right circle at the nine-minute mark of the opening frame.

Youngstown cut into the Thunder lead with Dominic Dockery’s power-play goal just a minute after Mattson scored, but that was as close as the Phantoms would get the rest of the way.

Bloomington had another player strike for his first USHL goal to finish off the scoring, as Ben Mirageas tallied a power-play marker with 2:05 remaining in the second period to make it 4-1.

While the Thunder jumped out to the early lead, Halladay also played a key role in net for the Thunder in the opening period. Youngstown peppered Halladay with 16 first period shots, and he turned aside 15 of those. Halladay yielded just one goal for the third time in his last four starts. Over the course of those four games, Halladay has a sparkling .950 save percentage and 1.25 goals-against-average.

The Thunder now return home for three consecutive weekends, starting with a two-game series against Team USA next Friday and Saturday night at the Coliseum.

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