MUSKEGON – The Muskegon Lumberjacks reached the most important crossroad of their roller-coaster season early the second period on Friday night, when they surrendered a two-goal lead and allowed the powerful Dubuque Fighting Saints to tie the game.

The Jacks could have folded up at that point and succumbed on home ice to a team that finished 14 points ahead of them in the regular season standings.

Instead they maintained their composure, collected two key goals to regain the lead, kept their heads when Dubuque scored a late power play goal,  and emerged with an exciting 4-3 victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at Mercy Health Arena.

The game-winning goal came from captain Jack Williams, who found the net when the Jacks had a 5-on-3 power play in the third period. That goal gave Muskegon another two-goal lead and just enough breathing room to pull out the win.

The Lumberjacks still need more victory to win the short three-game series, and both of the remaining games will be in Dubuque, om Sunday and Monday.

But the win at home in the opener means the Jacks only need to win one of those two games to advance to the Eastern Conference finals, and that’s far better than having to win two in Iowa.

“It was 2-2 and we were reeling just a little bit, but we went out a won a couple shifts in a row and put it in,” said Lumberjacks coach Mike Hamilton. “That was a big turning point of the game. Then obviously our power play has been smoking hot, and we found a way to get one in on that 5-on-3 advantage.

“It was a great team effort across the board. That was playoff hockey and a playoff win.  Now we have to stay with it and go on the road and figure out how to get one more.”

The game was much more intense than the Jacks’ first two playoff games earlier this week, when they beat Cedar Rapids 6-0 and 6-1.

Muskegon took the lead right away in the first period, getting a power play goal from Jacob Guevin at the 7:10 mark and another score from Quinn Hutson at 10:02, and led 2-0 at the first intermission.

The Jacks drew a penalty late in the first period and Dubuque’s Connor Kuerth capitalized just 52 seconds into the second with a power play goal that made the score 2-1.

Michael Feenstra added a goal for Dubuque at the 5:07 mark, and suddenly the score was tied and the Fighting Saints had the momentum.

That’s when the Lumberjacks pulled together and showed what they were made of.

Muskegon’s Ethan Whitcomb scored at 8:05 of the second period with a shot from between the faceoff circles and the Jacks led 3-2 after two periods.

Two quick penalties proved to be Dubuque’s undoing early in the third period.

First Nikito Borodayenko was whistled for cross checking at the 9:06 mark, then the Fighting Saints were called for too many men on the ice just 51 seconds later, giving the Jacks a 5-on-3 skater advantage.

They cashed in at the 10:38 mark when Williams took a pass from Guevin in the right faceoff circle and powered a shot into the net, giving Muskegon a 4-2 lead.

“I think a lot of games are won on special teams battles, and I think our kills have been good and so has our power play,” Williams said. “We had a rough start this season and look at us now. It’s our depth. We have four lines that can go.”

The game was far from over, however, because referee calls came into play on three different occasions down the stretch.

A shot by Muskegon’s Jacob Braccini appeared to go in the Dubuque goal with around eight minutes left, but after a long video review the referees ruled that were was no goal.

Things got tense at the 13:50 mark when Guevin was called for tripping and Dubuque took advantage with a power play goal by Lucas Olvested at the 14:56 mark, making the score 4-3.

The Fighting Saints pulled their goalie with about two minutes left, but the Lumbejacks did a great job of keeping the puck out of their zone and escaped with the exciting win.

At one point the Lumberjacks’ Quinn Hutson had the puck in front of the empty Dubuque net, but the refs whistled play dead because Muskegon goalie Chase Clark’s helmet came off on the other end of the ice.

Luckily that likely goal, or the phantom goal that was disallowed earlier, were not needed to preserve the victory.

“Our goalies’ mask came off on our end, and when it comes off it’s an automatic whistle,” Hamilton said. “It ended up not mattering and it made the finish more exciting.”

Dubuque had a 33-28 advantage in shots on goal. Clark got his third victory of the playoffs by stopping 31 of 33 shots.