MUSKEGON, MI - Opening a season ending 4 game home stand the Muskegon Lumberjacks welcomed the Madison Capitols to Trinity Health Arena on Friday night. Needed a win to keep their playoff hopes alive the Lumberjacks fell 6-3.

With the loss the Jacks fall to 26-30-3 this season and are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs while the Capitols improve their record to 15-39-2-2 on the campaign.

The Capitols opened the scoring 8:20 into the contest with a rebound finish by Oliver Flynn. Trey Ausmus found his defensive partner Ethan Elias on the far side of the neutral zone entering the offensive end. Elias fired a shot towards the low far pad of Raythan Robbins that produced a rebound for Flynn to bury to the back of the net.

Muskegon answered with two goals in the final minute to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. With 32 seconds to go in the period Sacha Boisvert carried the puck over the near side of the Madison blue line. Boisvert dropped the puck for Justin Solovey who sent it across the zone to a wide open Owen Keefe. The defenseman shot the puck off the back bar past Mason Kucenski for his 4th goal of the season.

Then, with just 0.6 seconds left until the intermission Michael Callow found the puck below the goal line and bounced it off the chest of a defenseman in front into the back of the net. For Callow it was his 19th goal of the season and gave the Lumberjacks a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes of play.

With a delayed penalty against the Lumberjacks the Capitols tied the game at two apiece 5:35 into the middle stanza. Jack Brandt sent the puck into the slot for a one time blast from Nathan Lewis for his 10th goal of the season.

Answering back quickly the Jacks regained their lead 53 seconds later. Callow gave the puck to Cody Croal in the Lumberjacks zone. Croal carried the puck up the ice along the near side wall all the way down to the corner. Croal walked towards the net and put a shot off of Kucenski that was stopped, but Matvei Gridin was there to find the rebound and tap it to the back of the net for his first goal since coming off the injured reserve. Croal picked up the primary assist for his team leading 45th point of the season.

Again with a delayed penalty against the Lumberjacks the Capitols regained the tie score making it 3-3 to end the second period. Jonah Aegerter carried the puck into the Muskegon zone and gave it to Finn Brink to place behind Robbins for his 7th goal on the campaign and a tie game through 40 minutes.

3 goals in the third period clinched the win for the Capitols. Lewis scored the first two for a hat trick while Elias added an empty netter of his own to make it 6-3. Ethan Fredericks scored with 29 seconds to go for his 10th goal of the season, but in the end it wasn't enough as the Capitols ended the Lumberjacks playoff hopes with the 6-3 win.

Robbins (10-18-1) made 28 saves on 32 shots fired by the Capitols. Kucenski ((8-19-0) stopped 24 of the Jacks 28 shots.

The teams close out the weekend series tomorrow, Saturday April 15th. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Trinity Health Arena. Catch the action on FloHockey and the Lumberjacks Radio Network on Mixlr.