LocalSportsJournal.com

The Muskegon Lumberjacks ended their two-game road trip with a 3-1 loss to Waterloo on Saturday night at Young Arena in Iowa.

The Lumberjacks are now 28-9-3 on the season, good for 59 points and first place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference. Muskegon is currently eight points ahead of the second place Chicago Steel and is just one point behind the Tri-City Storm for first place in the entire league.

Muskegon will return home next weekend for a pair of games against the Central Illinois Fighting Aces on Friday and Saturday. Both games are slated for 7:15 p.m. puck drop.

The Black Hawks opened the scoring with a goal from Vladislav Firstov at the 11:52 mark of the first period. Waterloo led 1-0 at the first intermission.

Solag Bakich increased the Black Hawks advantage to 2-0 with a tally 2:08 into the second frame. Waterloo then took a 3-0 advantage at the 6:21 mark of the middle period on a goal from Emil Ohrvall.

The Lumberjacks cut their deficit to 3-1 on a tally by Ryan Savage at the 9:43 mark of the second period.

Both teams were held scoreless during the final 10 minutes of the second stanza and the entire third period.

The Lumberjacks outshot Waterloo by a slim 31-30 margin.

Brandon Bussi suffered the loss in net for Muskegon, stopping 27 of 30 shots.