MUSKEGON – The Muskegon Lumberjacks were all set to hit the road with a four-game winning streak and tons of momentum.

They had every reason to expect that, because they were ending their six-game home stand on Saturday against the sub-.500 Green Bay Gamblers, a team they beat by three goals on Friday night.

But the Jacks lost their focus and a pair of leads and fell to the Gamblers 7-2 in front of a big crowd at Mercy Health Arena. The key to the game was the second period, when Green Bay scored four unanswered goals and stole the lead for good.

The disappointing loss ended the Jacks’ latest winning streak at three games and increased the pressure for them to perform well in a long nine-game road trip, which begins with three games in Youngstown next weekend.

Lumberjacks captain Jack Williams skates with the puck. Photo/Jasmine Schultz.

 

They will only return home for the last game of the regular season on April 23 against Chicago.

Next weekend’s games in Youngstown– and the rest on the road swing – will be important for the Jacks, who are battling to move up to second place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference, or at the least hold on to third.

Muskegon (28-18-6) came into the game seven points out of second place, seven points ahead of fourth-place Youngstown and eight ahead of fifth-place Madison. Youngstown won on Saturday, so the Jacks will be clinging to a five-point lead when they play three games against the Phantoms next week.

“We lost the second period and that’s all it is,” said Lumberjacks Coach Mike Hamilton about Saturday’s loss. “We got dominated for that period. and besides an empty netter and a late goal allowed I was really happy about the effort in the third. We just can’t take off 20 minutes, and that’s the lesson that needs to be learned.”

Muskegon’s Jacob Napier battles for the puck with Green Bay player. Photo/Jasmine Schultz

The Jacks came out looking confident and grabbed a quick lead on Joey Larson’s 29th goal of the season at 6:52 of the first period.

Green Bay tied the score with a goal from Cam Lund at the 8:07 mark, then Muskegon pulled ahead 2-1 on a long shot by Noah Ellis that found the Gambler net with about six minutes left in the first.

The turning point in the game came at the 19:30 mark of the first period, when the Lumberjacks were called for two simultaneous penalties, including one for unsportsmanlike conduct after a player on the bench made a comment that the referee didn’t appreciate.

That gave Green Bay a 5-on-3 advantage for the next two minutes. There was no damage before the end of the first period, but the penalties continued into the second, and the Gamblers cashed in with goals by Brody Lamb at the 19 second mark and Ryan Greene just 41 seconds later.

Jacob Guevin skates with the puck near the Lumberjacks bench. Photo/Jasmine Schultz

Suddenly the Gamblers had a 3-2 lead and the momentum for the rest of the game.

Green Bay struck for two more goals in the second period, both from Sawyer Scholl, and led 5-2 headed into the third.

“We started the period down 5-on-3, and you can’t do that because teams are too good,” Hamilton said. “You are up 2-1 and you give up two goals to start the period, and that second period is where we lost the game. That 100 percent cannot happen, and we are not happy about that.”

The Gamblers added two more goals in the third period, by Luke Weilandt (empty-netter) and Lund, to end a bad night for the Lumberjacks.

Green Bay had a 36-33 advantage in shots on goal. Gamblers goalie Rastislav Elias got the win, stopping 31 of 33 shots, while Muskegon’s Aleksandr Kuleshov took the loss.