LocalSportsJournal.com
DUBUQUE – The Muskegon Lumberjacks struggled once again defensively on Friday night in their first game against Dubuque.
The Lumberjacks allowed eight goals, four in the final period, in an 8-2 loss to the Fighting Saints at the ImOn Arena in Iowa.
Muskegon is now 17-11-2 on the season, good for 36 points and fourth place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference. The Lumberjacks will look to bounce back Saturday night against Dubuque to try to earn a weekend series split.
Muskegon debuted its seventh goalie of the season. Shikhabutdin Gadzhiev, from Makhachkala Russia, stopped 21-of-29 shots in his first game with the Lumberjacks.
The Fighting Saints jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the opening period with a pair of goals less than two minutes apart. Erik Pahlsson opened the scoring for Dubuque 47 seconds into the contest, while Michael Barron added a tally at the 2:46 mark of the first period.
Dubuque had a slim 11-10 shots on goal advantage through 20 minutes of play.
The Lumberjacks scored their first goal of the contest at the 3:12 mark of the second period with a tally from David Klee to cut Muskegon’s deficit to 2-1.
The Fighting Saints stormed right back with a goal from James Reeder 5:36 into the middle stanza to give Dubuque a 3-1 advantage. Pahlsson added his second goal of the contest 9:50 into the second period to increase Dubuque’s lead to 4-1.
Muskegon closed out the second-period scoring with a goal from Cody Croal on the power play 15:43 into the stanza. The Lumberjacks had a 21-16 advantage in shots on goal heading into the final period.
The Fighting Saints exploded for four unanswered goals during the final 20 minutes. Chase LaPinta (1:02), Teddy Merrill (3:02), Reeder (3:25) and Charlie Arend (16:28) each found the back of the net for Dubuque to close out the scoring.
The Fighting Saints outshot Muskegon, 29-27.
Muskegon was 1-for-4 on the power play, while the Fighting Saints went 1-for-3 on their man advantages.
