By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com
MUSKEGON- In a short, best-of-five series, it is vital to get off to a good start, particularly on your home ice.
The Muskegon Lumberjacks had some chances to start the 2024 Clark Cup playoffs in a positive direction, but the Green Bay Gamblers took advantage of some mistakes and that led to the visitors to a 4-3 victory on Saturday at Trinity Health Arena.
The Lumberjacks are now down 1-0 in the series and will need to win three of the next four games to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Muskegon will look to even the series Sunday, with Game 2 again at home. Puck drop will be at 3:10 p.m. before heading out to Green Bay to play the Gamblers in the third and fourth games of the series on Tuesday and Wednesday night.
“When facing adversity, we are a resilient group,” said Lumberjacks coach Parker Burgess. “I liked our game, but I thought our mistakes were crucial that led to goals. But I thought we did a good job controlling the game at times.”
The Lumberjacks fought hard to get back into the game as they overcame an early two-goal deficit and fell short overcoming a second two-goal deficit during the final 18 minutes of regulation.
The Gamblers jumped out to a 2-0 lead by scoring a pair of goals 1:25 apart.
Blake Bechen opened the scoring for Green Bay at the 7:08 mark of the first period, then the Gamblers took advantage of a defensive breakdown with a goal at 8:33 by Charlie Russell.
Muskegon finally responded 15:37 into the first period as Justin Solovey wristed home a shot from the slot to cut the Lumberjacks deficit to 2-1.
In the second period, Muskegon tied the contest 2-all on a goal from Cooper Pierson from Sacha Boisvert and Solovey at the 4:53 mark.
The Gamblers took advantage of a gamble from Muskegon goaltender Shikhabudtin Gadzhiev, who left the net to challenge a breakaway attempt by Green Bay’s Jayson Shaugabay, who connected on the wide-open net from the left circle to give the Gamblers a 3-2 lead 7:53 into the second.
The Gamblers extended their lead to 4-2 at the 1:35 mark of the third period on Shaugabay’s second goal of the evening.
Muskegon was ticketed with a penalty at the 6:27 mark of the third period, but managed to pressure the Gamblers to the point of scoring a shorthanded goal.
Matvei Gridin had a breakaway opportunity but was denied by Green Bay goaltender Gavin Moffatt. Gridin centered a pass from the left corner of the ice after getting denied a goal and found a wide-open David Klee. Klee buried the puck home at the 6:38 mark of the third period to cut the Lumberjacks deficit to 3-2 near the midway point of the final frame.
The Gamblers managed to control the puck to not allow Muskegon a chance to pull its goalie for the extra skater.
The Jacks finally gained the extra skater with just 50 seconds remaining in regulation. Muskegon’s best chance to score the equalizer came with just 6 seconds remaining, but the puck was just wide to the right.
“Now we have to turn around and bounce back and tie this thing up,” Burgess said. “For a lot of our guys, it’s the first taste of playoff hockey and Green Bay has a lot of guys who have had a taste of it.”
