Men's Ice Hockey 12/4/2022 3:41:00 AM

Lumberjacks lose a two-goal lead, fall to Chicago 7-4 in weekend finale in the Windy City

The Jacks were outscored 6-1 over the final two periods

The Muskegon Lumberjacks struggled defensively during the last two periods of Saturday night's game, giving up six goals in the final 60 minutes.

That erased an early two-goal lead and left the Jacks with a 7-4 loss at the hands of the first-place Chicago Steel on the road.

Muskegon is now 10-8-1 on the season, good for 21 points and fifth place in the USHL's Eastern Conference standings.

The Lumberjacks will look to salvage a victory this weekend when they close out their three-game road trip on Sunday in Dubuque against the Fighting Saints. Faceoff is slated for 4:05 p.m.

The Steel opened the scoring 4:04 into the first period with a goal from Jayden Perron.

Muskegon responded by scoring three unanswered goals to take a 3-1 lead after the first period. Owen Mehlenbacher (12:23), Jake Richard (16:37) and Jack Sparkes (17:12) each found the back of the net for Muskegon.

Chicago responded with three straight goals in the second period from Perron (:23), Mack Celebrini (11:10) and Michael Hagens (16:08) to take a 4-3 lead .

Cody Croal tied the game 4-4 for the Lumberjacks, scoring with 22 seconds left in the second period.

The Steel outscored Muskegon by a 3-0 margin during the third period. Perron completed a three-goal hat trick at the 8:04 mark, Celebrini notched his second goal 9:50 into the stanza and Christopher Delaney closed out the scoring at the 18:56 mark.

The Lumberjacks outshot Chicago by a 40-37 margin. Goalie Raythan Robbins, playing his first game for Muskegon, stopped 30 of 36 shots.

Muskegon killed four of six Chicago power plays while going 1-for-4 with a man advantage.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

#12 Cody Croal: F; 5' 11"; 6/17/2003

#27 Jack Sparkes: F; 6' 8"; 10/20/2003

#30 Raythan Robbins: G; 6' 0"; 6/5/2002

Players Mentioned

#12 Cody Croal
: 5' 11"; 6/17/2003
: F

#27 Jack Sparkes
: 6' 8"; 10/20/2003
: F

#30 Raythan Robbins
: 6' 0"; 6/5/2002
: G

Players Mentioned

#12 Cody Croal

#27 Jack Sparkes

#30 Raythan Robbins

Players Mentioned

#12 Cody Croal

#27 Jack Sparkes

#30 Raythan Robbins