LocalSportsJournal.com

CEDAR RAPIDS – The Muskegon Lumberjacks’ special teams accounted for a trio of goals on Saturday night in a 7-1 victory over the Cedar Rapids Roughriders.

Two power-play goals and one shorthanded goal highlighted the Lumberjacks’ 36th victory of the season. Muskegon (36-20-1-1) is tied for second place in the Eastern Conference with the Green Bay Gamblers with 74 points. Muskegon has four games remaining while Green Bay has five.

The Lumberjacks spotted the host Roughriders one goal before roaring back with seven unanswered tallies. Amine Hajibi staked the Roughriders to a 1-0 lead at 4:08 of the opening period.

From there, it was all Muskegon, which scored four goals in the second period and three more in the third.

Matvei Gridin (35th), Joe Connor (26th), Justin Solovey (22nd) and Jack Galarek (11th) each turned on the red light for Muskegon in that pivotal period. Connor’s goal came on the power play.

In the final period, Ethan Whitcomb got it started with a power-play goal at 6:38. It was his 17th goal of the season. Later, Solovey scored his second of the night, this time of the shorthanded variety. Connor capped the scoring at 16:55 with his second of the night.

Not only did Muskegon score three goals on special teams, but kept the Roughriders scoreless on their five power-play chances.

Goaltender Shikhaburtdin Gadzhiev stopped 24 of 25 shots he faced.

Muskegon returns to Trinity Health Arena on Friday night for a 7:10 p.m. contest against Team USA. On Saturday, Muskegon will travel to Team USA.