The forward out of Maumee, Ohio, scored three goals, including the game-winner with 3.9 seconds remaining in the overtime period to give the Phantoms the 4-3 victory.

This is the second game the Phantoms have played since mid-November.

Phantoms coach Brad Patterson expected some kinks, but is proud of the way his team has handled adversity.

“I didn’t think our first (period) was as good as last night’s first, but our execution got better and better over the course of the 65 minutes that we played here tonight,” Patterson said. “That’s just from being on the ice. I can’t say it enough. When you don’t touch pucks and you don’t touch the ice for a couple weeks, you’re going to be rusty. It’s going to look like it did last night.

Staff photo / Brian Yauger Phantoms forward and Vancouver Canucks prospect Jack Malone makes a push up the ice. Malone returned to the team from Cornell due to Ivy League winter sports being canceled.

“It did look like that for good chunks of tonight as well but the guys persevered. I’m extremely proud of this group. I told them I’m probably as proud of this group going through what they have last night and tonight as I have been of any group that we’ve had here in the last 12 years.”

One stark difference between Friday and Saturday’s games was the aggressiveness of the Phantoms’ offense.

The team had 13 shots on goal Friday. Saturday, that number more than doubled as the Phantoms peppered Muskegon goaltender Christian Stoever with 28 shots.

Schoen helped in that effort.

“Ben showed up and his skill set and his work ethic really drove him through,” Patterson said. “He’s been through these battles before. We’ve had multiple games or weekends where we turn it on as the game goes and Ben was a significant driving force for us here tonight.”

Schoen missed significant time last season due to injury. To say he was eager to return may be an understatement.

“We sat down yesterday and I wanted Ben to come into my room and tell me ‘Hey, I’m ready,’ ” Patterson said. “We had a small talk and we talked about it, and then he came in and basically kicked the door down 10 minutes later and said ‘Coach I’m going in.’

“That’s what you need when a player is coming back from an injury, they need that confidence that they’re going to be able to show up and be an impactful player, not just go and test it out and Ben obviously did that.”

Next weekend, the Phantoms travel to Chicago to take on one of the league’s top teams in a back-to-back-to-back series. Luckily for Youngstown, reinforcements are on their way as the team is expected to return multiple players that have been absent during the homestand.

“We’ve had a tough couple of weeks,” Schoen said. “We’re coming off a huge win. We’re playing a great opponent in Chicago, but we’re going to have a full roster back so I know the boys will be excited and ready to go in there and win.”