GREEN BAY, WI – After a nasty two games in Muskegon on Saturday and Sunday the Eastern Conference Semifinal matchup between the Lumberjacks and Green Bay Gamblers made its way to the Resch Center in Green Bay for game 3 on Tuesday night.
Shikhabudtin Gadzhiev (Makhachkala, RUS) was a brick wall in the crease for the Jacks with a 28 save shutout.
It only took a couple minutes for the parade to the penalty box to start. The Jacks were the beneficiary of the first powerplay, but it was the Gamblers who found themselves with the majority of time on the advantage with 7 power plays in the game. All 7 of the Gamblers attacks were shut down by the Jacks penalty kill.
Scoring was opened in the first period by
Justin Solovey (Holmdel, NJ) at the 18:46 mark.
Sacha Boisvert (Trois-Rivieres, QC, CAN) held the puck on the far side of the Green Bay blue line and tapped it towards Solovey. As he moved towards the net Solovey fired a shot from the slot that went off the netminder and into the back of the net. For Solovey it stands as his team leading 5
th point of the series (3g, 2a).
No goals were scored over the next 39 minutes until
Matvei Gridin (Kurgan, RUS) added an empty net goal while on a breakaway. Gridin took the puck away from a Gambler at the Jacks blue line before skating it down the ice and depositing it in the cage for his first strike of the post season.
Gadzhiev (2-1) earned the win stopping all 28 shots he faced in the contest. His first career Clark Cup Playoff shutout is the second in his young USHL career. Adam Gajan (1-2) played phenomenal as well making 27 saves on 28 shots against in the loss.
The game featured plenty of physicality and a pair of fights as the Jacks and Gamblers battle for the right to play in the Eastern Conference Finals. The winner of this series will take on the winner of the other Conference Semifinal between the #1 seeded Dubuque Fighting Saints, and #4 seeded Youngstown Phantoms. Currently the Fighting Saints hold a 2-1 lead in the best of 5 series.
Game 4 is tomorrow night at the Resch Center. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 pm CST (8:05 pm EDT). Catch the action on the official live stream partner of the USHL, FloHockey, and for free on the Lumberjacks Hockey Network on mixlr.
