Another slow start for the Muskegon Lumberjacks results in another loss

By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com

MUSKEGON – The Muskegon Lumberjacks have been haunted by slow starts in recent games and it has cost them three of their last four contests.

Photo/Sondra Workman

The Lumberjacks fell behind 3-1 through one period of play last week Friday in Green Bay before losing, 5-1.

Muskegon continued that trend on Saturday on the road against the Gamblers, trailing 2-0 late in the opening period before managing to rally to a 7-4 win.

The Lumberjacks ended the weekend Sunday with the same fate, falling behind 2-0 after the first period of play before falling just short of a comeback in a 5-4 result in Green Bay.

It was the same situation on Friday night at Trinity Health Arena against the Madison Capitols.

The Capitols jumped out to a 3-0 lead near the midway point of the contest before hanging on to defeat Muskegon, 4-3.

For the second straight game, the Jacks just missed out on a comeback victory as they tried to sneak the puck in during the final seconds, but just couldn’t tap it in for the tie.

The Lumberjacks are now 28-17-2 on the season, good for 58 points and fourth place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference. Muskegon still currently has a strong grip on a playoff spot despite its recent struggles. The Lumberjacks have 15 games remaining on their schedule, and they hold a 15-point lead for the final playoff spot in the USHL Clark Cup playoffs.

Muskegon will remain home Saturday night to face the Waterloo Black Hawks. Faceoff is slated for 7:10 p.m.

“Our challenge right now is to start better and find urgency in the game right off the bat,” said Lumberjacks head coach Parker Burgess. “In the first period, we were just ok with the puck and so we had to defend. In the second and third period, we had control of the puck, so we didn’t have to defend, causing breakdowns.”

The Capitols scored the lone two goals of the opening period.

Photo/Sondra Workman

Max Nagel opened the scoring for Madison at the 1:09 mark, then Diego Johnson buried one in the net 3:05. The Capitols held a 2-0 lead at the first intermission while outshooting Muskegon, 13-9.

“This is a really hard league to chase the game,” Burgess said. “We are responsible for figuring this out and making sure our first periods are better, so we don’t have to chase the game as much.”

Madison increased its advantage to 3-0 with a power-play goal from Austin Burnevik 7:19 into the second period.

The Lumberjacks finally found the back of the net at the 11:57 mark while on the power play. Cody Croal notched his 18^th of the season to cut the Muskegon deficit to a 3-1 margin.

The Capitols maintained their 3-1 lead heading into the final period despite getting outshot 28-20.

Burnevik added his second power-play goal of the night at the 3:43 mark of the final period to give Madison a 4-1 lead.

Muskegon cut into the deficit with goal from Matvei Gridin at 9:03 to make the score 4-2.

Croal added a late goal at the 19:07 mark to cap the scoring.

The Lumberjacks outshot Madison by a wide margin, 40-23. Shikhabudtin Gadzhiev suffered the loss in net. He stopped 19-of-23 shots.

The Capitols were successful on their power play, going 2-for-3 while Muskegon was 1-for-3 on its man advantages.

Take a look at more photos from the Lumberjacks at Trinity Health Arena, shot by Sondra Workman.