Staff photo / Brian Yauger Youngstown Phantoms defenseman Trey Taylor fends off Madison defenseman Brandon Chabrier. The Phantoms were knocked out of the playoffs Tuesday with a 5-3 loss.

YOUNGSTOWN — Death by a thousand “almosts.”

The Youngstown Phantoms had several shots almost go in, but those close calls didn’t connect.

Madison’s red-hot goaltender, Simon Latkoczy stood on his head, recording 31 saves in a 5-3 loss for the Phantoms in Game 2 of the Clark Cup Playoffs, ending the team’s season.

“Obviously we’re disappointed in the outcome. I thought we had plenty of opportunities tonight and that’s the hardest thing,” Phantoms coach Brad Patterson said. “You’re disappointed after a game where maybe you didn’t get them and tonight I felt like the pucks just didn’t go in the back of the net for us.

“It’s tough to stomach. The guys had a tremendous effort, they created (opportunities) and I thought we did limit their opportunities. Ultimately they come out on top.”

The Phantoms struck first Tuesday with Arizona State commit Garrett Wright scoring with five minutes remaining in the opening frame. Reid Pabich knotted the game at one-each in the second period, which is where it would stay.

Despite racking up as many shots as they did in the first two periods (20) as they did the day prior, Latkoczy’s play kept the Phantoms from sneaking any in during the second period.

The second frame culminated in a power play where the Phantoms just peppered Latkoczy for the final two minutes, but the Slovakian netminder held strong.

After Monday’s game, Patterson mentioned how getting his guys’ feet moving more in transition was going to be important. They did that, but the story of the game fell on Latkoczy’s performance.

“I think our transitions were better,” Patterson said. “Last night I didn’t feel like we were moving our feet a ton on our first passes. You do that, then you don’t have numbers to get up ice and we did better at that tonight. Attacks at the group a little bit more, speed on the outside and directed more pucks at the net.

“Once you do that you start getting a little bit of an offensive motion. The shot-first mentality was there. We had a rule of how many we wanted to put at the net tonight, and I guess the goal should have been a little bit higher.”

The third period is where the scoring really opened up, mainly for the Capitols.

A 3-1 Capitols lead was cut down by Adam Ingram, who went top shelf to hit the back of the net and cut it to 3-2.

With the goaltender pulled, the Phantoms did everything they could to knot the game back up with an extra attacker on the ice, but nothing stuck.

The Capitols hit the uncontested net twice to go up 5-2, before captain Jaden Grant scored with six seconds left. Unfortunately for the Phantoms, it was too little too late.

Goaltender Kyle Chauvette surrendered three goals on the evening, two of Madison’s goals were empty-netters, and there wasn’t much Chauvette was able to do on any of the other three. It marks his final game as a Phantom.

The Union College commit has left a legacy with the club that is set to continue with the other half of his goalie tandem, Jacob Fowler.

“How many times have we said after a game that (Chauvette) gives us an opportunity to win and he did that again tonight,” Patterson said. “He’s a guy that’s team-first. Not that goaltenders ever have bad relationships, but there’s always that competitive relationship and (Fowler and Chauvette) had a tremendous one this year. They studied the game together, they worked together, they’re each other’s biggest cheerleaders and that’s why we were so confident in that group.

“Knowing that they’re both going to play and give us opportunities to win and they did that all year.”

This marks Madison’s first series win since the team returned to the USHL in 2014.

The Capitols will move on to face the top seed in the Eastern Conference, Chicago.

byauger@tribtoday.com