The Muskegon Lumberjacks had a disappointing final week before the USHL’s Christmas break.
The Lumberjacks lost on Wednesday against Team USA 7-2, suffered an overtime loss to Youngstown 2-1 on Friday, then closed out the weekend with a 5-1 loss to the host Phantoms in a rematch on Saturday.
The Phantoms scored four unanswered goals, two in both the second and third periods, to earn the win.
Muskegon is now 12-11-2 on the season, good for 26 points and a tie for third place in a tight USHL Eastern Conference race.
The Lumberjacks will return to action on Friday, Dec. 30 on the road against Team USA before returning home for a New Year’s Eve rematch at Trinity Health Arena.
Youngstown opened the scoring 12:41 into the first period with a power play goal from William Whitelaw.
The Lumberjacks responded with a power play goal from Justin Solovey at the 17:51 mark of the first period to tie the game.
The Phantoms took a 3-1 lead after the second period, getting goals at the 3:26 mark from Trey Scott and 5:41 from Shane Lachance on a power play.
Youngstown added an empty net goal by Chase Pietila at the 16:58 mark of the third period to take a 4-1 lead, then closed out the scoring at 18:02 with a goal by Jake Rozzi.
The Phantoms outshot Muskegon by a 31-25 margin. Lumberjacks goalie Conor Callaghan stopped 26 of 30 shots on net.
The Lumberjacks were 1-for-6 on their power play opportunities and 3-for-5 on the penalty kill.
Leave a comment
COMMENTS POLICY: We have no tolerance for messages of violence, racism, vulgarity, obscenity or other such discourteous behavior. Thank you for contributing to a respectful and useful online dialogue.