MUSKEGON – Muskegon Lumberjacks coach Mike Hamilton constantly talks about “stupid penalties,” and how they can ruin a team’s chance to win, particularly in close games.
On Friday night the Jacks committed a very untimely penalty, with just a few seconds left in regulation in a tied game, and had to spend part of the overtime period killing it off. They somehow got away with it and escaped with an overtime win.
On Saturday they did it again, getting whistled for a penalty with just over two minutes left in a tied game, and this time they got burned.
Youngstown’s Ryan Alexander scored a power play goal just 10 seconds after the penalty was called, and the Lumberjacks suffered a tough 3-2 loss to the Phantoms in the final game of a weekend series at Mercy Health Arena.
[1]The Lumberjacks are now 2-7-3 on the season and remain in last place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference. Youngstown improved to 5-6-2.
The Jacks will return to action next Saturday in Chicago. Their next home game will be Nov. 26 against Madison.
“At the end of the day you have to realize how a ref is calling a game and you have to adjust to it, and we weren’t very smart,” said Lumberjacks coach Mike Hamilton, whose team was called for nine penalties, which led to 26 minutes in the penalty box. “At this point you have to consider moving a guy (off the roster) because you can’t continue to do stupid things.
“We review every penalty, and we talk about them internally, but at the end of the day we can’t keep doing things that are costing us hockey games.”
The loss was painful for the Jacks, who were trying to win their second straight game for the first time this season. Their chances looked good for most of the contest, particularly after they took a 2-1 lead into the third period, and were getting solid defense and another good effort from goalie Platon Zadorozhnyy.
[2]Even the penalty killing unit – which has been the worst in the USHL – was doing its part, killing off five of the Phantom’s first six power play opportunities.
But they couldn’t kill off the last one, and the goal ruined what might have been a great weekend for the Lumberjacks.
“We didn’t get the one that we needed, so our penalty kill wasn’t good enough,” Hamilton said.
The game was very similar to Friday’s, when the Jacks gave up a late lead and had to go to overtime, only this time there was no overtime.
Muskegon’ Jacob Guevin led off the scoring with a power play goal at 3:42 of the first period, with assists from Jack Williams and Quinn Hutson.
[3]Alexander answered with his first power play goal of the game at the 8:30 mark, and the game was tied 1-1 after one period.
Muskegon’s Jake Braccini spun around and lifted a high shot into the Youngstown net at 17:18 of the second period, and the Jacks led 2-1 heading into the third.
Youngstown stole the win in the third period with goals from Carter Rose at 15:43 and the second power play goal from Alexander at 18:03. The Phantom’s final power play came after Braccini was called for a boarding penalty at the 17:53 mark.
Youngstown outshot the Lumberjacks 35-28. Zadorozhnyy took the hard-luck loss after stopping 32 shots.
“He played great and we’ve got to help him out every once in a while,” Hamilton said. “We can’t depend on our goalie to win every hockey game. I thought we were good for about 55 minutes tonight, and just a little undisciplined at the end.”
Youngstown goalie Kyle Chauvette got the win with 26 stops.