GENEVA, IL – Kicking off a stretch of four straight games between the Muskegon Lumberjacks (26-13-0-1, 53 pts.) and Chicago Steel (17-16-5-2, 41 pts.), the two teams took to the ice on Saturday Night at the Fox Valley Ice Arena. A back-and-forth affair saw the Jacks surrender two goals in the third period, providing a mountain too steep to climb. In the end, the Steel held on for a 4-3 win.
 
The only goal in the first period came for the Lumberjacks at the 13:54 mark of the frame. While on an Auto Owners Insurance Power Play Drew Stewart (Minnetonka, MN) slid a pass to the blue line for Carter Amico (Westbrook, ME). A soft shot towards the net off the stick of Amico was redirected off the skate of Niles Benson (Tampa, FL) in the middle of the slot and to the back of the goal for a 1-0 Jacks lead.
 
Coming out of the first intermission, Chicago tied the game 5:14 into the second period. Tobias Ohman held the puck on the near side wall of the Lumberjacks zone and sent a pass towards the middle of the slot from James Scantlebury who one-timed a shot to the back of the net for his first of a two-goal night.
 
A few moments later at the 11:17 mark, Muskegon regained the lead with a goal from Viktor Norringer (Kungsbacka, SWE). A collision at center ice between Ty Bergeron (Flat Rock, MI) and a Steel player saw the puck come loose in open ice. Melvin Novotny (Stockholm, SWE) found the loose puck and sent a pass to Norringer on the near side of the ice. On his way into the zone, Norringer ripped a shot under the goalie's glove for his 13^th goal of the season, 4^th in the last two games.
 
Just a minute and a half later, the teams found themselves skating at 4-on-4 strength. Jackson Crowder caused a turnover in front of his team bench on the far side of the ice, and carried the puck into the Lumberjacks zone. As he crossed across the slot, Crowder fed a pass to Timo Kazda in the near side circle for another one-time goal.
 
Tied 2-2 entering the third period, the Steel took a 2-goal lead in the third period with goals at each end of the frame. The first came 2:06 into the period when Alexander Assadourian buried a rebound on the near side of the crease after a pair of highlight reel saves from Will Keane (West Bloomfield, MI). The second goal came at 17:27 to give them a little space from the Jacks. Scantlebury was the beneficiary of a loose puck at the front of the net and had a nearly empty net to shoot at to make it 4-2.
 
With the net empty, and the extra attacker on the ice, the Lumberjacks found the back of the net with a minute and a half remaining in regulation. Amico fired a shot from the blue line that was stopped by the goalie but left a rebound loose in the crease. Louis Jonerheim (Lund, SWE) jumped on the rebound and whacked it across the goal line to get the Jacks a bit closer to a tie game.
 
One goal would be the closest the Jacks got despite a great effort in the final moments of regulation, and the Steel hung on to pick up the 4-3 win.
 
Keane (6-6-0-0) earned the loss on his record, but made numerous big saves throughout the contest to help the Jacks stay in the fight. Louis-Felix Charrois (10-9-0-1) earned the win on his record with 20 saves on 23 shots against.
 
Tomorrow afternoon, the teams finish the weekend at 4:05 pm EST at the Fox Valley Ice Arena in Geneva, IL, before shifting to Muskegon next weekend. Catch the action on FloHockey and the Lumberjacks Hockey Network on Mixlr.