Lumberjacks top Sioux City in shootout in Friday USHL action

LocalSportsJournal.com

The Muskegon Lumberjacks had to keep their winning streak alive the hard way on Friday night. The Jacks had to get it down with a shootout.

The Lumberjacks won the shootout round 2-1 to gain an extra point in the standings, defeating the Sioux City Musketeers 3-2 on the road at Tyson Events Center.

Muskegon, which has now won six straight games and nine of the last 10 games, is now 10-3-3 on the season, good for 23 points and second place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference standings.

The Lumberjacks will look to keep their streak alive on Saturday in a rematch with the Musketeers. Faceoff is slated for 7:05 p.m.

Both teams failed to score during the first period.

The scoreless tie finally ended 16:16 into the second period with a goal from Davis Borozinskis to give the Jacks a 1-0 lead.

Muskegon extended the lead to 2-0 with a goal from Xavier Veilleux at the 2:15 mark of the third period.

The Musketeers rallied to force overtime by scoring a pair of late third period goals.

Giacomo Martino (16:03) and Olivers Murnieks (18:51) each found the back of the net for Sioux City.

Both teams failed to score during the five-minute 3-on-3 period, forcing a three-round shootout.

Chase Stefanek opened the scoring in the shootout for the Lumberjacks.

The Musketeers tied the shootout with a goal from Nikita Klepov in the opening round of the shootout.

The Jacks sealed the victory with a shootout goal from Matthew Van Blaricom.

Muskegon outshot the Musketeers 28-23 as Shikhabutdin Gadzhiev earned the win in net for the Jacks, stopping 21-of-23 shots faced.

There were no power plays in the contest as the lone penalties were matching minors with just a second remaining in regulation.