YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Muskegon Lumberjacks looked to build off their Game 1 overtime victory into Game 2 of the best-of-five Eastern Conference Semifinal as the series shifted to the Covelli Centre in Youngstown, Ohio against the top-seeded Youngstown Phantoms. Like Wednesday’s Game 1, a nip and tuck affair saw the majority of the offense accumulated during the opening 40 minutes of regulation with the Phantoms eventually holding off a late Lumberjacks rally in the third to come away with a 4-2 victory to even the series back up at one game apiece. 
Minutes into the game, the Lumberjacks grabbed the game’s first goal at the 3:42 mark to take an early 1-0 lead courtesy of a wrist shot from the left point by Matheson Iacopelli (2) slipping one top shelf over the glove hand of Colin DeAugustine (1-0) that was assisted by Bo Hanson.
The opening frame cleared the halfway point when the Phantoms tied the contest at 1-1 by the 10:59 mark as a centering feed by Chase Pearson behind the Muskegon net led to Josh Nenadal (1) one-timing the puck in the low slot inside the right post and past Eric Schierhorn (1-1) that was also aided by Matt Alvaro.
The tie score remained pat going into the first intermission break with Youngstown outshooting Muskegon by a 14-11 spread. Both teams were 0-for-1 on the power play.
Moments into the second, the Phantoms grabbed its first lead of the night at 2-1 just 56 seconds into the middle frame as Kyle Connor (2) redirected a centering feed by Kiefer Sherwood in the low slot area past Schierhorn.
Youngstown continued to press offensively quickly extending the advantage to 3-1 at the 3:35 mark with Nenadal (2) sliding his second of the night through Schierhorn’s five-hole in the high slot.
Under a minute later at the 4:29 mark, Muskegon trimmed the deficit to 3-2 with a breakaway marker by Iacopelli (3) snapping one past DeAugustine’s blocker side for his second of the game that was set up by Ryan Siroky and Joseph Cecconi.
The one shot margin remained the same going into the second intermission with the Phantoms holding on to the shot advantage overall, 25-19, after outshooting the Lumberjacks during the middle stanza, 11-8.
The third period featured a defensive struggle with Muskegon outshooting Youngstown by a wide 11-4 spread during the final frame, but ultimately could not tally the game-tying goal as the Phantoms potted an empty net goal with under 47 seconds to go by Connor (3) for his second of the game that was aided by Tyler Sheehy and Connor Yau. The Lumberjacks outshot the Phantoms for the night by the slimmest of margins at 30-29.
Colin DeAugustine claimed the home win stopping 28 of 30 shots, while Eric Schierhorn took the road loss with a 25-save night. Muskegon was 0-for-4 on the power play, while Youngstown finished 1-for-8. Kyle Connor and Josh Nenadal both led Youngstown’s offense with two goals each, and Matheson Iacopelli spearheaded Muskegon’s offensive push with a pair of tallies. Iacopelli currently leads the Lumberjacks with four playoff points (three goals, one assist) followed by Ryan Siroky with three assists. Connor is tops on the Phantoms’ offense through two games with three goals plus an assist.
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