MUSKEGON- On Friday night the Madison Capitols had a lot of penalties, the Muskegon Lumberjacks took advantage by scoring three power play goals and won.

On Saturday it was the Jacks who were plagued by a bunch of penalties – including six infractions during the second period – but they didn’t allow Madison to capitalize at all.

The Lumberjacks killed off every one of the Capitols’ eight power plays, scored a short-handed goal, and managed to escape with an exciting 3-2 victory at Trinity Health Arena and a two-game sweep of the weekend series.

The winning goal was scored by Jacks captain Owen Mehlenbacher early in the third period. The Jacks were kept in the contest by the outstanding play of goalie Conor Callaghan, who stopped 34 of 36 shots.

Nathan McBrayer skates with the puck in the neutral zone. Photo/Tonya Pardon.

The Lumberjacks, who were also outshot by a 36-20 margin, improved to 10-7 on the season, good for 20 points and third place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference.

The Capitols are now 5-11-1 on the season.

The Lumberjacks will be road-tested next weekend with a pair of games against the first place Chicago Steel on Friday and Saturday, followed by a Sunday contest in Dubuque against the Fighting Saints.

“Special teams won us the hockey game there,” said Lumberjacks coach Mike Hamilton. “It’s great to see that everybody stepped up on the kill and the power play, but there is no question that Callaghan won that game for sure. I thought he was phenomenal.”

Lumberjacks Tyler Dunbar waits for the puck by the blue line. Photo/Tonya Pardon.

Callaghan kept the Lumberjacks alive all night, particularly in the penalty-plagued second period when the Jacks were outshot 16-4. He made a huge save early in the third period, stopping a breakaway shot by Madison’s Peter Cisar.

“He was a one-man show,” Hamilton said. “We spent a lot of time in our zone, and he bailed us out so many times tonight. He was clearly the number one star, in my opinion.”

The Capitols opened the scoring at the 6:34 mark of the opening period with a goal from Max Nagel.

Muskegon’s Jake Richard scored his team-leading 10th goal of the season on a power play at 18:10 of the first period.,

Matthew Morden skates towards net. Photo/Tonya Pardon.

The Lumberjacks were shorthanded for more than half the second period, with six penalties for 12 minutes in the box, but somehow managed to play the Caps to a 2-1 league in the period by scoring a shorthanded goal.

That goal was scored by Cody Croal on a 2-on-1 break at 5:04 of the second period, after taking a pass from Nicholas Rexine.

Madison tied the game with 12 seconds to go in the second with a goal by Jack Musa.

Callaghan made his big save on the Madison breakaway early in the third period, then Mehlenbacher scored the game winner at the 4:46 mark.

Lumberjacks captain Owen Mehlenbacher shoots puck on net. Photo/Tonya Pardon.

“We came together during the second period with our penalty kill,” Callaghan said. “The players in front of me made it easy for me. I was trying to do my job the best I can, and I was lucky to make the save.”

Tyler Dunbar had three assists for Muskegon while Rexine and Richard each had one. David Hymovitch also collected an assist while playing in his 100th USHL game.