LocalSportsJournal.com

GREEN BAY – The Muskegon Lumberjacks have been playing their best hockey of late, heading into the final weekend of February riding a perfect 6-0 record.

The Lumberjacks were looking to continue their success and complete a perfect month of February, but the Green Bay Gamblers got in the way of that on Friday night.

Muskegon could only manage to muster a single goal as it fell to the Gamblers 5-1 in Wisconsin at the Resch Center.

The Lumberjacks are now 27-15-2 on the season, good for 56 points and third place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference. Muskegon is just two points behind the second-place Gamblers squad and its next two contests will be against them on the road. The next contest will be Saturday at 7:00 p.m. before closing out the three-game set on Sunday.

The Dubuque Fighting Saints are on top of the Eastern Conference with 66 total points.

The Gamblers jumped out to a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period.

Michael DeAngelo opened the scoring for Green Bay with a goal 5:10 into the contest.

The Lumberjacks tied the game 1-1 at the 9:04 mark of the first period on a goal from Joe Connor.

The Gamblers responded with goals from former Lumberjack William Hughes at the 9:25 mark of the first period and Ryan Humphrey at 11:56 to give Green Bay the 3-1 advantage. Muskegon held 15-13 shots on goal advantage despite trailing by two goals.

Green Bay scored the lone second period goal at the 15:21 mark as DeAngelo scored his second of the game. The Gamblers led 4-1 heading into the final period.

Green Bay also scored the lone third-period goal. That came at the 5:48 mark from Blake Bechen while on the power play.

The Lumberjacks outshot Green Bay 36-29 for the game.

Muskegon goaltender Shikhabutdin Gadzhiev suffered the loss in net. He stopped 24-of-29 shots.

The Gamblers went 1-for-5 on the power play, while Muskegon failed to score on its five man-advantages.