LocalSportsJournal.com
The Muskegon Lumberjacks don’t stay down for long.
On Thursday they lost in Green Bay, snapping a 3-0-1 hot streak. But on Friday and Saturday in Madison, they got hot again.
One night after posting a come-from-behind, overtime win over the Capitols, they turned up the offense and raced to a 7-2 victory in the finale of the two-game series on Saturday at Bob Suter Capitol Ice Arena in Madison, Wisconsin.
The Lumberjacks ended their five-game road trip with a 3-1-1 record.
Muskegon is now 14-15-3 on the season, good for 31 points and a fourth-place tie with Youngstown in the USHL’s Eastern Conference standings.
The Lumberjacks will return to action next weekend at home when they host the Cedar Rapids Roughriders on Friday and Saturday night. Both games will start at 7:05 p.m.
The Lumberjacks were led by Danil Gushchin with two goals and an assist. Alex Konovalov added a goal and two assists, Jack Williams had two assists, and both Rhett Pitlick and Dylan Wendt had a goal and an assist.
Muskegon jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period on goals from Jan Lasak (9:36 mark) and Pitlick at 17:58. The Lumberjacks had a commanding 17-5 advantage in shots on goal during the opening period.
Gushchin increased Muskegon’s lead to 3-0 at the 58 second mark of the second period.
The Capitols cut their deficit to 3-1 with a goal by Patrick Schmiedlin 7:12 into the second period.
The Lumberjacks scored the next two goals – by Gushchin (10:22) and Konovalov (15:53) – to take a 5-1 lead heading into the third period.
Madison cut its deficit to 5-2 on a goal by Jack Horbach 12:14 into the third period. Muskegon’s Wendt (15:04) and AJ Hodges (17:10) scored the last two goals of the game.
The Lumberjacks outshot Madison by a 43-27 margin.
Muskegon goalkeeper Jack Williams recorded the win, stopping 25 of 27 shots.
The Lumberjacks were 1-for-3 on the power play and killed all four of Madison’s man advantages.
