MIDDLETON, WI – Just as he has done all season long, Carl Axelsson (Danderyd, SWE) made all the saves the Muskegon Lumberjacks (15-2-0-0, 30 pts.) needed him to. This time around, his 22 saves led the way for a 3-2 (SO) win over the Madison Capitols (9-6-0-2, 20 pts.).
 
Madison took control of the game right from the jump and used the momentum to open the scoring just 2:25 into the action. Jackson Nevers received a pass on the near side of the Lumberjacks' zone and fired a shot to the back of the net for his 4^th goal of the season.
 
It took a while, but the Lumberjacks re-tied the game early in the second period thanks to a Carter Sanderson (Pierre, SD) goal. Drew Stewart (Minnetonka, MN) held the puck behind the Madison net and slid a pass to the near side for Sanderson, who wired a shot between the legs of the goalie for his 7^th goal of the season.
 
Again, an early goal in the third period gave the Caps a 2-1 lead. Just 27 seconds into the period, Michael Tang took away the puck deep in the Muskegon zone for a Grade-A scoring chance. Tang buried the shot for his 2^nd goal of the season.
 
A big response from the Lumberjacks evened the score again, this time to force overtime. Sanderson won possession of the puck deep in the Madison zone in the far side corner. A pass to Jack Christ (Chaska, MN) was followed by a shot under the blocker of the goalie for Christ's 7^th tally of the campaign.
 
Overtime brought a flurry of chances for the Capitols including a pair of breakaways. All of the opportunities were met by saves by Axelsson to send the game to a shootout. Axelsson was a perfect 3/3 while Rudolfs Berzkalns (Cesis, LAT) scored the game winner in the third round.
 
Axelsson (10-1-0-0) picked up his league-leading 10^th win of the season with 22 saves on 24 shots against. Caleb Heil (7-4-0-1) earned the shootout loss on his record after making 21 saves on 23 shots against.
 
Tomorrow night, the Jacks and Caps close out the weekend series with puck drop at 8:05 pm EST at Bob Suter's Legacy20 Arena Middleton. Catch the action on the official live stream partner of the Muskegon Lumberjacks, FloHockey, and on the Lumberjacks Hockey Network on Mixlr.