By WJBC Staff
BLOOMINGTON – The Bloomington Thunder battled back from an early deficit, scoring four unanswered goals on the Muskegon Lumberjacks and winning it 5-4 in the shootout on Monday afternoon.
Logan Lambdin improved on the season scoring his 19th goal of the year to tie the game in the final 25 seconds of the game. Jake Slaker earned the number one star of the game, assisting on Lambdin’s game tying goal and scoring the game winner in the shootout.
With the Thunder down 4-1 into the third, Head Coach and General Manager Dennis Williams decided to take a different approach to the final period then getting all the goals at once.
“Let’s think of it as three separate six and a half minute games. You come out and win each game you tie the game up,” he said. “When we scored two quick ones and it put them on their heels a bit. Then the last five or six minutes I thought we elevated our game again.”
The Thunder came out in the third period and scored two goals to open the final frame. Jake Durflinger netted his tenth of the season with a redirected shot from Brogan Rafferty one minute into the period. Less than a minute later, Jeremy Davies found himself in front of the net for a fantastic redirected shot to pull the Thunder within one. Patrick Curry finished the afternoon with an assist on that play and also scored the Thunder’s first goal of the game in the second period.
“I told our guys, the pressure is on them now. They had the 4-0 lead, not us. Our guys kept to it,” said Coach Williams. “We decided not to call a time out at the end because I thought our conditioning was good. Then we win a crucial draw and are able to tie it up.”
Curry’s tipped shot on the power play was his eighth of the season and came from Rafferty and Wyatt Kalynuk. With under three minutes left in the period it gave the team the spark they would need to come back from a 4-0 deficit.
The Lumberjacks were able to stop an early offensive surge by Bloomington who had 16 shots on net in the first. Overall, the Thunder took 48 shots on net and handed Joey Daccord his 16th loss of the season, despite making 43 saves.
Muskegon managed to take a 3-0 lead starting with an unassisted tally from Anthony DelGaizo. Picking off the puck and moving to the high slot, the forward let a shot fly to the net just over eight minutes into the period.
Danny DiGrande began a big game in the first with his first goal of the season. On a similar play to the first goal, DiGrande was able to get his first of three points on the night to make it 2-0. Lucas Michaud scored the third goal for the Lumberjacks on a low angle shot that found the net. What seemed like a harmless play, found the inside of the post and gave Muskegon a 3-0 lead into the break.
Starting the second period, the Lumberjacks added an odd man rush goal almost eight minutes into the middle period. The pass from Logan Drevitch found DiGrande for his second goal of the presidents day matinee to give the ‘Jacks their 4-0 advantage.
The Thunder finished the game 2-for-2 on the power play and netted one goal on the man advantage. Hayden Lavigne (University of Michigan) earned the win with 15 saves, his 17th of the season and third best in the United States Hockey League by any goalie.
“We have another tough weekend ahead of us in Chicago, Green Bay, Dubuque so it doesn’t get any easier,” said Williams, whose team is now in fourth place in the Eastern Conference playoff race. “It’s a well-deserved weekend for this group and a resilient weekend to win when the game is on the line.”
Bloomington is back home to finish their four game stand on Friday at 7 p.m. The Chicago Steel roll into Bloomington for the second time this season as the Thunder look to continue their two-game win streak.
