Staff photo / Brian Yauger Phantoms defender Austen May's stick flexes as he fires off a shot during Saturday's game against Green Bay.

YOUNGSTOWN — Saturday’s game for the Youngstown Phantoms was a tale of two teams, not counting the opposition.

After Green Bay fired off three goals in the first period, the Phantoms, down 3-0, came out in the second looking like a completely new team.

Despite rallying back, putting the game within one, it wasn’t enough as they fell 5-2 to the Gamblers in their fifth straight loss.

“I’m really disappointed,” Phantoms coach Brad Patterson said. “To have a first period like that when you show what you can do in the second, that’s kind of been the story for us, not piecing together a full 60 minutes.”

It was looking like a repeat of Friday’s game, with the Phantoms putting chances on net early in the first, but quickly being deflated by a Gamblers goal.

Five minutes into the match, Alex Nordstrom potted the opening score. Late in the first, Alex Servango and Jackson Hallum poured it on, each scoring to give Green Bay a 3-0 lead at the break.

During the intermission, something clicked with the Phantoms and there was a renewed energy. Just a minute into the second period, Reilly Funk ended the Gamblers’ shutout, beating Green Bay goaltender Matt Davis.

In the locker room prior to the second period, Patterson talked about “turning it on”, knowing what the team is capable of. It’s just a matter of playing consistently, which has been the issue.

“I can’t understand why the things we talked about prior to the game, we execute in the second period and do very well, but in the first it’s like it takes 10 minutes to turn it on, which is unacceptable at this level,” he said. “The consistency is just not there top to bottom and we need to make sure that it is.”

The Phantoms took the message to heart in the second, as in the middle of the period defenseman Mike Brown further closed the gap with his first United States Hockey League goal to make the score 3-2.

With a one-goal deficit and momentum starting to shift, it was on the Phantoms to tie the game. Despite multiple chances, the Phantoms were unable to get another goal past Davis.

Servango extended the Green Bay lead to 4-2 putting one past substitute goaltender Kayle Chauvette. Ryan Greene tacked on an empty-netter to make it 5-2.

At the tail end of the first period, starting goaltender Mattias Sholl was swapped for Chauvette, who stopped the bleeding, posting a .916 save percentage on the night.

While a great way to swing momentum back and restore confidence in Chauvette, who was pulled under similar circumstances last week, goalie swapping can’t become a habit.

“You can only do so many things to change momentum from the bench. That’s one of them, but we shouldn’t be looking to do that early in a game,” Patterson said. “To me that’s unacceptable and we need to be much better.”

The Phantoms have the next two weeks off, returning Jan 3. for a home tilt against the US National Team Development Program. Over the break, the main goal is to work on consistency.

“That’s a hard thing to work out especially with this age group, but really that’s been the story for us,” Patterson said. “You know when we’re in every game, it doesn’t matter. You look at the losses we’ve had, every one of them, we’ve had maybe 30 good minutes, not a complete 60, and that’s, you know, that’s the thing that we need to be much better with.”