CANONSBURG, PA – The preseason provides teams with an opportunity to face different scenarios before wins and losses mean anything. For the Muskegon Lumberjacks (1-1-0-0), that means figuring out how to bounce back after falling 7-1 on Saturday afternoon to the Youngstown Phantoms.
 
From the get-go, momentum belonged to the Phantoms. Evan Jardine opened the scoring 5:28 into the action, followed by goals from Ryan Franks and Jackson Adams at 6:51 and 8:17, respectively.
Looking to turn the tide, the Jacks found themselves on an Auto Owners Insurance Power Play halfway through the frame. Gustas Zemaitis (Barrington, IL) made his way into the offensive zone and towards the Youngstown net. Zemaitis got the puck to the top of the blue paint with a little help from Michael Kotora (Atlanta, GA) in the low slot. The puck bounced towards the far end of the slot, where Adam Belusko (Kosice, SVK) fired a slapshot from the hashmarks for his second goal of the preseason.
 
There wasn't much more to come for the Lumberjacks in the offensive zone. A trio of goals in the second period for the Phantoms from Owen Boucher, Sean Miller, and Brayden Thompson made it 6-1 heading into the final period of regulation.
 
Miller added his second goal of the game in the third, and the Phantoms skated away with the 7-1 victory. Samuel Doyon-Cataquiz (Montreal, QC, CAN) (0-1-0-0) earned the loss with 28 saves on 35 shots. Vladimir Nikitin (1-1-0-0) earned his first win of the preseason with six saves on seven shots.
 
Next week, the Jacks close out the preseason with a home-and-home series against the Chicago Steel. Puck drop is scheduled for Friday morning at 10 am inside Trinity Health Arena for the annual Kids Day Game. Catch the action on the official live stream partner of the Muskegon Lumberjacks, Flo Hockey, and on the Lumberjacks Hockey Network on Mixlr.