The Muskegon Lumberjacks needs to string together a few more wins to stay in the hunt for a spot in the Clark Cup playoffs.
After getting an impressive win over the Youngstown Phantoms on the road yesterday, the Lumberjacks failed to complete the sweep.
Muskegon allowed five first period goals, resulting in a disappointing 7-3 loss to the Phantoms on Saturday night.
The Lumberjacks are currently 25-27-3 on the season, good for 53 points and seventh place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference.
Muskegon will continue its road trip on Thursday with a game against Dubuque, before heading to Green Bay for games on Friday and Saturday.
[1]The top six teams qualify for a spot in the Clark Cup playoffs and the Jacks are currently five points behind Cedar Rapids for the last playoff spot.
Muskegon has seven games remaining and if it wins the final contests, it can earn up to 67 points in the standings. Cedar Rapids needs to earn nine points in its final nine games (out of a possible 18 points) to eliminate the Jacks from playoff contention.
The Lumberjacks jumped out to a 2-0 lead with goals from Ethan Whitcomb at the 5:24 mark of the opening period and Teddy Spitznagel 7:19 into the frame.
Youngstown then exploded for five unanswered first period goals to take a 5-2 lead into the first intermission.
Shane Lachance (8:23), Matthew Perkins (11:11), William Whitelaw (12:57), Justin Varner (14:58) and Whitelaw (19:29) each found the back of the net for Youngstown in the first period.
[2]The Lumberjacks cut their deficit to 5-3 with a goal from Gavin McCarthy at the 2:25 mark of the second period, but the Phantoms responded 19:16 into the middle stanza with a tally from Andrew Centrella.
Youngstown led 6-3 through two periods of play.
The Phantoms closed out the scoring with the lone goal of the third period by Jake Rozzi at the 17:26 mark.
Youngstown outshot the Jacks by a 44-30 margin as Raythan Robbins stopped 37-of-43 shots faced in the Muskegon net.
[3]The Lumberjacks failed to score on all four of their power play chances, while allowing two Youngstown power play goals on three opportunities.
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