MUSKEGON – The good news is that the Muskegon Lumberjacks are having a lot of success at home at Trinity Health Arena.

After an opening-night loss to Chicago, the Jacks have won three straight games at home, including Saturday’s exciting 6-2 win over the Dubuque Fighting Saints.

The arena was rockin’ that night, particularly during the third period, when there was a bunch of rough stuff and penalties before the Jacks scored two late goals to sew up the win.

But the Jacks have not been great on the road. They have a 1-3 record in foreign territory, including two losses two weekends ago in Green Bay.

The Jacks want to address that issue this weekend when they head to Madison, Wisconsin to play the Capitols for the first time since last season’s USHL Eastern Conference finals, which Muskegon lost three games to two.

“We’re going into their barn, it’s a smaller arena, and our road record has not been great to this point,” said Lumberjacks Coach Mike Hamilton. “That’s something we don’t want to become an issue. We have to go there and figure out how to get a win or two.

“I think it has a little to do with the fact that we are young and some of the guys are not used to playing in other atmospheres. You have to learn quickly how to play in other arenas. The ice may be a little hard or soft, the boards can have some bounce. The younger guys have to learn, during the pregame skate, to figure things out about the rink.”

Lumberjacks fans have painful memories of Madison, a team that finished in fifth place in the regular season standings in 2021-22, then got hot in the playoffs and started knocking off teams that finished higher.

The Lumberjacks and Capitols traded wins in the first four games of the conference finals and came back to Muskegon for a decisive Game 5 in front of a packed house, but Madison spoiled the party by skating off with an 8-4 victory that ended the Jacks’ season.

The two teams head into their weekend series tied for fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings with eight points apiece. Madison is 4-3-0 on the season while the Jacks are 4-4-0.

Madison has two players in the top 20 of the USHL scoring race – forward Miko Mattika, who is 12^th with four goals and six assists, and forward Jack Musa, who is 20^th with five goals and three assists.

The Lumberjacks’ top scorer is forward Tyler Hotson, who popped in two goals in Saturday’s victory and is 18^th in the league with four goals and five assists.

Special teams surprise

The Lumberjacks have been struggling on the penalty kill this season, and that’s been a real issue, because they’ve been getting lots of penalties.

That’s why Hamilton was so pleased with the two shorthanded goals they scored in the first period on Saturday that propelled the Jacks to the win.

On the first, forward Cody Croal made a beautiful pass across the ice to forward Luke Buss, who deposited the puck in the net to give Muskegon a 1-0 lead.

The same two players provided the second shorthanded goal, only their roles were reversed. Buss made a great pass to Croal and he buried the puck, and the Jacks led 2-0 after one period.

“It was exciting for a lot of reasons,” Hamilton said about the shorthanded goals. “We had put a lot of focus on improving the penalty kill all week, and those plays brought a huge influx of energy to the team.”

Speed line on the way

Hamilton is looking forward to Saturday night in Madison, when forwards Owen Mehlenbacher and Jack Reimann return from three-game suspensions they received for various penalties in Green Bay.

He said the current plan is to put a speedy forward line on the ice, featuring Reimann, Buss and Croal, to create havoc for opponents.

Buss, who played last year in the British Columbia Hockey League, was injured in training camp and was not able to play until Saturday, but his speed was immediately evident to everyone.

Reimann was acquired in a trade a few weeks ago and is also known for his speed.

“A month ago, the concern from everyone was about our team speed,” Hamilton said. “That was the idea behind making the trade for Reimann, and that’s what we knew we had coming in Buss. When you insert both of those guys it dramatically changes our lineup. All of the sudden we have two guys who can skate with Croal. That’s elite speed that will be tough for any team to handle.

“One little tick of the puck, and those guys can turn it into a breakaway real quick.”

Ugly third period

The fans may have enjoyed all the chaos, but Hamilton wasn’t pleased with the mess of penalties that plagued the third period of Saturday’s victory.

Dubuque was called for nine penalties in the third for 32 minutes while the Jacks had eight infractions for 16 minutes.

The teams were called for all sorts of penalties, including roughing, slashing, abuse of an official, cross checking and tripping. At two different points there were five players crowded inside the Dubuque penalty box.

That’s not the Jacks’ brand of hockey, according to the coach.

“I’ve said it a million times, the more we can play five-on-five and run four lines and use the depth in our lineup, the better we are,” Hamilton said. “When we get into special teams battles we’re at a disadvantage. We have to figure out a way to stay out of the penalty box and play hard hockey, but clean hockey. We need to learn how to stay focused and stay who we are.”