LocalSportsJournal.com

DUBUQUE – The Muskegon Lumberjacks have struggled against the top team in the Eastern Conference of the USHL so far this season.

The Jacks lost their first two games against the Dubuque Fighting Saints while giving up a total of 16 goals in the process.

The third time was a charm for Muskegon as it managed to earn a convincing 6-3 victory over the first-place Fighting Saints on Saturday night at the ImOn Arena in Iowa.

The Lumberjacks improved to 18-11-2, good for 38 points and a third-place tie in the USHL’s Eastern Conference.

Muskegon will return home next weekend facing a much taller task. The Lumberjacks will host the best team in the USHL in the Fargo Force, which has a 27-3-1 record. The contests will be on Friday and Saturday night with both games starting at 7 p.m. from Trinity Health Arena.

On Friday night, Dubuque opened the scoring at the 2:08 mark of the opening period with a goal from Noah Powell.

The Jacks tied the contest at 1-1 just two minutes later with a goal by Xavier Veilleux, then took a 2-1 lead 40 seconds later with a tally from Patrick Raftery.

Muskegon extended its lead to 3-1 at the 15:47 mark of the first period with a goal from Sacha Boisvert.

The Jacks maintained their 3-1 advantage through 20 minutes of play. Both teams had 12 shots on goal.

The Fighting Saints cut the deficit to 3-2 when Powell scored his second goal of the contest.

Muskegon responded with 13 seconds left in the period on a goal from Cooper Pierson.

The Jacks had a 4-2 advantage heading into the second intermission. Dubuque had a slight 22-21 advantage in shots on goal through 40 minutes of play.

Muskegon added to its lead in the third period as Justin Solovey found the back of the net 6:46 into the period and gave the Jacks a 5-2 lead.

The Fighting Saints responded with a goal from Jake Sondreal at 18:26.

The Jacks closed out the scoring with 25 seconds left on an empty net goal from Solovey.

Muskegon outshot the Fighting Saints, 28-26. Shikhabutdin Gadzhiex earned his first USHL win in net for the Jacks by stopping 23-of-26 shots.

The Lumberjacks failed to score on all three of their power plays, but killed off five of their six shorthanded situations.