MUSKEGON – The Muskegon Lumberjacks came into the weekend looking to make a statement and grab first place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference.
Instead the Jacks ended their two-game series with the Chicago Steel in third place, and with some concerns as they head into the final stretch of the regular season.
Muskegon allowed four unanswered goals during the first period and three during the third and fell 8-5 on Saturday to the first-place Chicago Steel at Mercy Health Arena.
The biggest problem was Chicago’s Sam Lipken, who scored four goals, including a natural hat trick in the crucial third period.
The Lumberjacks, who also fell to Chicago 3-2 on Friday night, have now lost six of their last seven games following a long hot streak when the squad went 10-0-1.
[1]Muskegon is now 24-14-6 on the season, good for 54 points and third place in the Eastern Conference. The Jacks are six points behind Chicago and a point behind Dubuque, which leaped ahead of Muskegon by winning on Saturday.
“We got off to a slow start and so we were chasing them the whole game,” said Lumberjacks coach Mike Hamilton. “I thought we competed hard in the second period and fought back and put ourselves back into the game.
“We came into the third unprepared and let it get away from us. It’s time for us to come back together and learn from our mistakes. At the end of it, Chicago is better than we are right now and we have a couple of months to get better.”
The Lumberjacks have struggled defensively over the last eight games, allowing 45 goals for an average of more than five goals per game.
[2]“It’s about team defense,” Hamilton said. “It’s guys picking up guys without pucks on the back checks, so that starts with our forwards and our defense challenging early and getting pucks out of the middle of the ice and playing physical. It’s 100 percent team oriented.”
The Lumberjacks will hit the road for a pair of games next weekend against the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders.
Muskegon will return after the short road trip for six straight games at home, before ending the regular season playing nine of its last 10 games on the road.
The Steel jumped out to a 4-0 lead on Saturday with two goals from Joe Miller, at the 32 second and 14:46 marks of the first period, respectively, along with tallies by Jack Harvey (9:20) and Sam Lipken (11:39).
The Jacks ended the onslaught with a goal by Philip Tresca at the 16:18 mark of the opening period.
[3]The Lumberjacks opened the second period with a quick strike from Quinn Hutson with just 40 seconds off the clock to cut their deficit to 4-2.
Chicago responded with a tally by Adam Fantilli at 7:55 of the second period to give the Steel another three-goal advantage at 5-2.
Muskegon closed out the middle period strong with goals from Tyler Dunbar (8:13) and Joey Larson (10:36) to cut their deficit to 5-4.
The Steel regained the momentum in the third period when Lipkin scored a natural hat trick with consecutive goals at the 4:30, 5:28 and 6:55 marks. Suddenly Chicago led 8-4.
The Jacks closed out the scoring 17:30 into the third period with Tresca’s second goal of the contest.
Muskegon outshot the Steel by a 39-27 margin. Lumberjacks goalie Aleksandr Kuleshov stopped 19 of 27 shots on net.
The Lumberjacks gave up three power play goals on five Chicago chances, while going 1-for-3 on their own own plays.