MUSKEGON – The Muskegon Lumberjacks were looking for some forwards to step up and kick-start their offense and help get a victory on the books.

On Friday they found two guys who demonstrated they could put the puck in the net at critical moments.

One is first-year Lumberjack Joey Larson, who netted the team’s first three-goal hat trick of the season, and scored twice in the third period to allow the Jacks to rally and tie the game.

The other hero was second-year forward Quinn Hutson, who scored two goals, including the game winner just 44 seconds into overtime, to give the Lumberjacks a thrilling 6-5  victory over the Chicago Steel in the team’s home opener at Mercy Health Arena.

“We lost the faceoff, but we got the puck back, I took a pass, came in nice and slow and put it in the corner (of the goal),” Hutson said about the winning goal. “We battled pretty hard. We have wanted to beat those guys for a while. It’s obviously nice to get a win under our belts in the home opener, and get everybody going.”

“Larson was pretty special tonight, and him and Hutson were able to put the puck in the net,” said Lumberjacks Coach Mike Hamilton, whose 1-2-2 squad will play Chicago at home again on Saturday night. “It was great to see our will to win in the third period. I was really proud of the effort.”

The hard-earned victory was a huge relief for the Lumberjacks, who opened the season with four road games and came home without a victory.

Two of their losses were very close and went to overtime, but they couldn’t get over the hump.

On Friday they threw everything they had into a desperate third-period comeback and managed to wrestle a win from the jaws of defeat.

Chicago’s Jack Harvey scored his second goal of the contest just 27 seconds into the third period, giving the Steel a 5-3 lead. But instead of shrinking away in defeat, the Lumberjacks turned on the offensive jets, outshooting the Steel 13-2 in the first 10 minutes of the period.

That’s when Larson did his best work. He scored on a 2-on-1 break just 57 seconds into the period, pulling the Jacks within a goal. Then he struck again at the 6:56 mark, taking a shot from a very wide angle near the corner of the Chicago zone that slipped through the pads of Steel goalie Gibson Homer, tying the game up at 5-5.

The Jacks had a golden opportunity to cap off the comeback late in the third period when Chicago was whistled for a double-minor high stick penalty, giving Muskegon a man advantage for four full minutes with only 4:40 left to play.

The Jacks didn’t take advantage of that chance, and the game went to overtime, but the extra period didn’t last long.

Hutson scored with a high shot from the left circle less than a minute into OT, giving the Jacks the victory in front of an excited home crowd.

“It was a good team win,” Larson said. “All the lines were clicking. We’ve been close and we finally did it. We really needed it.”

“It was a great response,” Hamilton said about the way the Jacks battled back from the two-goal deficit. “We have a great hockey team. We just have to learn how to win and figure out who is going to score the goals, and it’s coming along.”

The game started out shaky for the Jacks when Chicago’s Jackson Blake scored from short range just 48 seconds into the contest.

The Jacks quickly answered back at the 1:33 mark when Larson tipped the puck past Chicago goalie Gibson Homer, tying the score 1-1

Muskegon went up 2-1 at 11:21 of the first period when Homer was screened by a scrum in front of his net, and Jacob Guevin fired a wrist shot into a wide open net.

Chicago’s Jack Harvey popped in a rebound from a blocked shot at 14:54, and the game was tied 2-2 at the first break.

The Steel took the lead on a goal by Zam Plante 3:44 into the second period. The Jacks answered with a power play goal by Hutson at thee 5:07 mark, but Chicago took a 4-3 lead into the second intermission after Sam Lipka scored halfway through the period.

Harvey’s second goal early in the third period spelled the end of the night for Lumberjacks goalie Jan Skorpik. He was pulled in favor of new backup netminder Carson Limesand, who held Chicago scoreless the rest of the way.

Larson followed with his second and third goals of the game, giving new life to the Jacks, before Hutson sealed the win up in overtime.

The Jacks were aggressive offensively all night, outshooting Chicago 52-27.

The trouble came on the defensive end, where the Jacks allowed too many Steel forwards to get easy shots close to the net.

Hamilton also said Skorpik had a bit of an off night, kicking out too many rebounds in the wrong locations, resulting in several Chicago goals.

“Defensively we have some areas to clean up, and I don’t think Skorps was as sharp as he could be, but in the end we dug deep and got a win,” Hamilton said. “It feels good. Hopefully we can be ready tomorrow and get ourselves a sweep.”