Staff photo / Brian Yauger Bradley Marek battles for possession of the puck with Bockton Baker and Frank Dovorany (right) after a faceoff.

YOUNGSTOWN — The last time the Youngstown Phantoms reached the win column was in November, in a 6-4 road win against Madison.

After a winless December, the Phantoms were able to right the ship on Friday night, picking up a much-needed 3-2 overtime victory over that same Madison team.

“I thought they made some great plays and I thought that they got some very good goaltending, as did we,” Phantoms coach Brad Patterson said. “It was a good hockey game.”

The way the puck was bouncing early in the game, it seemed like the Capitals had the advantage as Madison got out to a 1-0 lead off a Ryan Kirwin goal just seven minutes into the game.

It remained a 1-0 game until midway through the second period, when leading scorer Trevor Kuntar scored his first goal of the night to even the score.

Eight minutes later Madison reclaimed the lead with another Kirwin goal.

Facing a deficit that would have led to the team’s eighth straight loss, Kuntar scored again to tie the game and send it to overtime.

Kuntar’s game-tying goal was enough to spark the team in the overtime period. Kuntar was a shot away from the game-winner, but it pinged off the crossbar to extend the game.

Not even a minute after Kuntar’s attempt, center John Beaton buried a shot past former Phantom goaltender Christan Stoever for the victory.

“It feels good,” Patterson said. “You walk in the room, the guys are smiling in there, they’re charged up. I thought the energy was very good before the game. Last week was a tough week not just based on the wins and losses, there’s a lot of different things going on and it’s good to see that group rebound.”

The Phantoms welcomed back Ben Schoen to the lineup after a two-month absence due to injury. He found himself right at home on the power play.

“Ben is so good with the puck,” Patterson said. “He slows everything down. A lot of players don’t have that ability, but Ben does. I think he’s gotten better every game he’s been back. That’s a very tough thing to do. To sit out two months and jump back in.”

Also returning to the lineup was Kuntar. Kuntar missed time with the team to participate in the World Junior A Challenge, representing the bronze medal-winning Team USA.

Getting Kuntar back on the ice is a big addition for the Phantoms.

“I can’t say much more about him,” Patterson said. “He’s a manchild. A beast. He does it all, and he does it with the intensity we need. He needs to do that for guys to feed off him and he’s been a huge addition.”

The Phantoms (12-13-4-0, 28 points) moved up to fourth place in the Eastern Conference. Youngstown has a day off today, but returns to the ice on Sunday to take on the Capitals once more.

Madison has been a thorn in the Phantoms’ side this season, with three of their six wins coming in tilts against Youngstown, but according to Patterson, the Capitals are a much better team than their record indicates.

“I say it all the time, it doesn’t matter what your win-loss record is,” Patterson said. “I’ve watched them numerous times where they’ve been a goal away or they get scored on in the last minute. They’ve been playing some very good hockey. They played us very tight, they took both when we were up in Madison. They’re a tough team to beat. My expectation is another good game on Sunday.”