Here’s a very good sign for Muskegon Lumberjacks fans who are excited about the playoffs, which begin on Monday.
The Lumberjacks, who had nothing to play for in the next-to-last game of the regular season, rallied from a two-goal deficit and beat the first place Chicago Steel 5-4 on the road on Friday night.
Forward Ethan Whitcomb scored the game-winner just 1:48 into the overtime period, with assists from Jake Richard and Jacob Guevin. It was Muskegon’s fourth straight victory.
Richard led the Muskegon attack with two goals in the game.
Muskegon and Chicago will play again on Saturday night at Mercy Health Arena in the last game of the regular season.
Earlier this week, Jacks Coach Mike Hamilton said this weekend’s games meant very little, because his team had already secured third place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference and the third seed in the playoffs.
Hamilton said he planned to rest key players on Friday and Saturday night, in preparation for Monday’s playoff opener at home against either Cedar Rapids or the Team USA 17-Under squad.
Chicago, on the other hand, has a lot to play for, because the Steel entered Friday just two points ahead of Dubuque in the battle for the Eastern Conference championship and home-ice advantage throughout the conference playoffs.
But the Jacks rose up and stole the victory, despite being down by two goals midway through the third period.
There was no scoring in the first period.
Chicago took the lead with a goal by Zam Plante in the second period, but the Lumberjacks answered with goals from Jack Williams and Richard and led 2-1 at the second intermission.
The Steel pulled ahead 4-2 with three unanswered goals from Jayden Perron, Lukas Gufstafson and Sam Lipkin in the first nine minutes of the third period. But Richard scored his second goal at the 12:29 mark and Quinn Hutson found the net at 14:01, tying the game 4-4 and forcing it to overtime.
Whitcomb’s goal early in the OT session settled the issue.
Each team had 28 shots on goal. Goalie Chase Clark started and played two periods for the Jacks, stopping 17 of 18 shots. Aleksandr Kuleshov played the third period and overtime and stopped 7 of 10 shots.
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