YOUNGSTOWN — While the Youngstown Phantoms controlled pace for much of the game, the early deficit was too much to overcome, dropping their post-Christmas return to the ice against Muskegon, 3-2.

The Phantoms surrendered two goals in the first five minutes of Friday’s contest, and found themselves in an early hole.

“Obviously the first period we were a little rusty,” Phantoms coach Ryan Ward said. “Two mistakes that ended up in our net. But I thought in the second and third, we were dominant. I think we gave up five shots in two periods. We’ve just got to clean up that little stuff. I mean, in the three games we played against them. I thought we’ve been pretty good. So just a couple things to clean up. Overall, the second and third periods, I thought were really positive.”

After that second goal, however, the Phantoms locked down.

Kazimier Sobieski set the tone in the second period with his fifth goal in 10 games with the Phantoms. Sobieski wasted no time getting on the board, scoring five seconds into the middle period.

Unfortunately for Youngstown, the Lumberjacks matched them in the period with a goal by Drew Stewart.

In his first game on Covelli Centre ice in a Phantoms’ uniform, Jamison Sluys scored to cut into the Muskegon lead.

“(Sluys) has been outstanding. Getting him in here and getting him acclimated with what we do (has been a big help),” Ward said. “And his teammates love him. He’s a heart and soul kid. He makes plays and obviously is producing for us, so we’re excited to have him here.”

But the Phantoms (16-11-0-0, 32 points) were unable to find the back of the net again and couldn’t force overtime.

The Phantoms take on Muskegon again tonight at the Covelli Centre. Puck drop is set for 6:05 p.m.

“I think we just need to start on time,” Ward said. “I liked how we did a lot of things tonight. When the analytics come back, our offensive zone time is going to be heavily in our favor. I think overall, I liked what we did in the second and third. I think we build off that. I think we need to be a little more trigger-happy, getting our shots off a little bit earlier. But I liked a lot of things we did, so we’re not really going to change a lot.”