CEDAR RAPIDS, IA – Closing out a weekend series the Muskegon Lumberjacks took to the ice looking for a series split against the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders on Saturday night. In a game similar to the one played a night before the Jacks fell to the Riders 4-1.
 
With the loss Muskegon falls to 20-23-2 this season while their counterparts from Cedar Rapids improve to 22-17-4-3. The weekend sweep increases the point gap between the 6ht and 7^th place teams to 9 points.
 
The RoughRiders jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period thanks to an odd man rush at the 11:28 mark of the frame. Ryan Walsh caused a turnover in the neutral zone and carried the puck over the near side of the blueline and into the Jacks zone. At the top of the circle Walsh sent a pass across to Dylan Hryckowian who fired a shot past Raythan Robbins for his second goal in as many games this weekend.
 
Walsh was involved in a second RoughRiders goal in the second period. At the 1:33 mark of the period the Cornell commit found himself on another 2-on-1, and again slid the across the slot. This time Jack Musa the sent it back to where it came from, and Walsh tapped it to the back of the net.
 
With just 12 seconds to play in the second period Muskegon got on the board with their first goal of the game. Ethan Whitcomb found the puck on the near side of the neutral zone and carried it into the Cedar Rapids end. Whitcomb walked around the defenseman and tucked the puck between the legs of Sam Scopa for a highlight reel goal. His 16^th of the season for the Jacks to carry a 2-1 deficit into the final period of regulation.
 
Similar to last night's contest the RoughRiders used a pair of goals in the third period to pick up the 4-1 win. First, at the 7:29 mark Tyson Gross buried a rebound from the side of the net while on the power play. The initial shot was blocked by a Jacks defenseman, but the puck popped straight to Gross on the far side of the slot. Then, with 3:36 to play Hryckowian found himself on a breakaway with an empty net. He finished off the goal for his third point of the night, 19^th goal of the season.
 
The Jacks power play went 0/2, though it was the penalty kill that shined better for the visitors surrendering just one goal on 5 attempts for Cedar Rapids.
 
Robbins (4-12) made the start and stopped 23 of 26 shots against in the loss. Scopa (4-7-1-2) made 13 saves on 14 shots for his 4^th win of the season.
 
Next week the Lumberjacks welcome the Dubuque Fighting Saints to Trinity Health Arena for a weekend series on Friday March 10^th, and Saturday March 11^th. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 pm on both nights, and can be caught on FloSports and the Mixlr App.
 
For tickets visit muskegonlumberjacks.com or call the Lumberjacks ticket office at (231) 799-7000 x 258.