The Muskegon Lumberjacks have put themselves in the driver's seat of the Eastern Conference Finals with a 7-4 victory in Dubuque over the Fighting Saints Saturday night.
Ivan Ryabkin notched a hat trick, while David Deputy chipped in with two goals of his own for the Jacks, who now have a 2-0 lead in the series.
The Jacks put up six Straight goals, but it was Dubuque who got on the board in the first period with a power-play goal 8:51 in.
Edison Engle sent the puck from the middle of the blue line to Lucas Van Vliet on the nearside half wall. A pass to Josh Giuliani in the middle of the slot set up the forward for a one-timer and a 1-0 Saints lead.
Muskegon tallied the next six goals for a 6-1 lead. The first came at the 11:37 mark of the opening period, when Finn McLaughlin slid a pass to the near side for Tynan Lawrence. As he moved towards the net, Lawrence sent a feed to the back post, where Ryabkin redirected it into the back of the net, tying the game 1-1.
A short time later, the Jacks went on another power play, and Ryabkin scored his second of the night. Deputy got the puck from the near-side wall to McLaughlin at the blue line on the near side of the ice. McLaughlin sent a pass across the slot for Ryabkin to blast to the back of the net, giving the Jacks a lead they would not relinquish.
Muskegon made the score 3-1 toward the end of the frame. A strong forecheck caused a turnover in the middle of the Saints zone, and the puck landed on Jack Christ’s stick. He sent a soft pass to Jack Galanek at the top of the crease. Galanek put the puck between his legs and roofed a shot for his third goal of the playoffs.
The Jacks kept up the pressure into the third period. At the 1:54 mark, Vaclav Nestrasil got the puck to David Klee at the side of the net. Clay’s initial shot was stopped, but Xavier Veilleux got the rebound in the middle of the slot and fired in a slapshot for his second goal of the post-season to make the score 4-1.
The next two goals belonged to Deputy to complete the six-goal outburst. First, at 3:42 of the middle frame, Ryabkin fed the puck to Deputy in the far side corner of the Dubuque zone. Deputy made his way to the top of the circle and ripped in a shot, catching the goalie out of position.
With just over four minutes left in the period, Deputy tallied his second of the night by redirecting a shot from Lawrence to the back of the net.
The Fighting Saints lived up to their name and tried to make the game interesting with three unanswered goals in the third period. Van Vliet scored the first at the 2:17 mark with a delayed penalty against the Jacks. Jonathan Morello added one of his own at 8:18 with a shot from the middle of the slot to make it 6-3. James Mackey scored his first goal of the post-season a minute and a half later to bring the Saints to within two.
Ryabkin completed the hat trick with an empty-netter in the final minute for the 7-4 final, giving Muskegon a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
Ryabkin finished the game with three goals and an assist, while Deputy had two goals and a helper. Lawrence joined McLaughlin with two assists each.
Stephen Peck earned the win for the Jacks with 14 saves on 18 shots. Liam Beerman made 13 saves on 19 shots, lasting the first two periods in the loss. Shikhabudtin Gadzhiev entered halfway through the third period, stopping all five shots he faced.
Kyle Ozgun made his USHL debut in the third and also stopped all fives shots he faced.
Game 3 shifts to Trinity Health Arena Tuesday night. Puck drop is set for 7 Pm ET.