MUSKEGON – Fate finally smiled on the Muskegon Lumberjacks on Friday night, in a situation that did not look very promising at all.
The Lumberjacks led 1-0 after two periods, gave up a third period goal, and the game against the Youngstown Phantoms went to overtime, and then a shootout.
OT games had not provided many positive results for the Jacks this season, They came into the contest with a 1-3 record in games that went to overtime or an OT shootout.
To make matters worse, Muskegon was called for a penalty late in the third period, and had to spent the first part of OT killing off a shorthanded situation.
But the Jacks managed to kill off the penalty, nobody scored in the OT period, and the game went to a shootout.’
Youngstown scored first in the second round of the shootout, but could not muster another goal. Muskegon’s Jake Richard scored in the Jacks’ half of the second round, then Quinn Hutson found the net on the Lumberjacks’ third turn, giving the home team a thrilling and much-needed 2-1 victory at Mercy Health Arena.
[1]“It felt pretty good to get a win, it has been a couple of games,” Hutson said. “(Phil) Tresca shot first for us, and I saw what he did, and I did the same thing and just got it in. I was a little bit luckier.
“I think we are starting to turn the corner. Once everybody knows what it feels like to win then everybody will start working harder and it will be a lot more fun around here.”
The Jacks, who improved their record to 2-6-3 on the season, broke a five-game winless streak. They will host Youngstown again on Saturday night.
“It was definitely nice to see everybody with a smile tonight, and I just think that is going to lead into something good tomorrow,” said Lumberjacks coach Mike Hamilton. “I don’t think we were great tonight by any means. I think our goalie won us a hockey game. We had periods where we were good, but at the end of the day, he made a lot of great saves that kept us in the game.
“I think you will see a relaxed and energized hockey team tomorrow.”
[2]As Hamilton mentioned, a very big hero was Lumberjacks goalie Platon Zadorozhnyy, who flirted with a shutout for much of the contest and stopped 36 of 37 shots in regulation and overtime to collect the win.
It was a huge bounce back for the Russian netminder, who played his first game for the Jacks a week ago and came out on the losing end of a 7-4 score against Dubuque.
Zadorozhnyy showed off the skills that he was reputed to have before his arrival in Muskegon, using his quickness and athleticism to stop the Phantoms cold on numerous scoring opportunities.
Perhaps his biggest save of the night came with 3:42 left in the five-minute overtime period, when he stopped a Youngstown shot from close range that could have ended the game.
“We see what he is capable of in practice,” Hamilton said. “We are excited about what he can become, and now we will see if he can do it on back-to-back nights.”
[3]Muskegon’s Ben Strinden scored just 1:24 into the game, giving the Jacks a 1-0 lead that remained in place until the third period.
Youngstown’s Adam Ingram tied the score with a goal at 4:02 of the third.
As the clock ran down on overtime, the game started to seem eerily similar to last Saturday’s matchup at home against Dubuque, when the Jacks gave up a lead in regulation then lost 4-3 in an OT shootout.
To make matters worse, the Lumberjacks’ Jacob Napier was called for a two-minute slashing penalty – only the second infraction that was called in the game – with 20 seconds left in regulation. That meant the Jacks would have only three skaters for the first 1:40 of the five-minute overtime, compared to Youngstown’s four.
But the Jacks managed to kill off the penalty, sending the game to the OT shootout, then Richard and Hutson scored their goals and the Lumberjacks got a very big win.