LocalSportsJournal.com
The Muskegon Lumberjacks have played better away from the L.C. Walker Arena all season, and were hoping to keep that trend going on Friday in Cedar Rapids against the RoughRiders.
But Muskegon started its three-game road swing on the losing side, falling 3-2 to the first-place RoughRiders.
The Lumberjacks dropped to 14-15-3 on the season, good for 31 points and last place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference standings.
The RoughRiders opened the scoring with a pair of goals 25 seconds apart late in the first period.
Taylor Brierley gave Cedar Rapids a 1-0 lead with a power play goal at the 16:17 mark, while Jack Ahcan added a goal at 16:42.
Tyler Irvine gave the RoughRiders a 3-0 advantage with a goal with 37 seconds left in the second period.
The Lumberjacks broke the shutout with a goal from Mitch Eliot at the 9:39 mark of the third period.
Muskegon pulled goaltender Joey Daccord to gain an extra attacker late in the game while on the power play.
The effort paid off when Matej Paulovic scored with a little over a minute left in regulation, narrowing the score to 3-2, but the Jacks couldn’t get any closer.
RoughRiders’ goaltender Benjamin Blacker picked up the win, stopping 32 of 34 Lumberjack shots.
