The Chicago Steel outshot the Muskegon Lumberjacks on Friday but fell to the visitors 6–4. Chicago got their revenge on the road the following night, besting the Lumberjacks 4–3 in overtime. The weekend split kept the Steel in first place of the Eastern Conference finals with a 15–4–1–0 record and a one-point lead over Team USA.
Friday Period One:
Muskegon opened the scoring with a goal from Cameron Berg at the 4:56 mark of the first period. Chicago would answer back less than two minutes later when Matt Coronato netted his fifth goal of the season for Chicago, tying the game at 1–1. Lumberjack forward Alexandros Gaffney took the lead back for the visitors with his fifth goal of the season, beating Steel goaltender Victor Ostman.
The visual https://t.co/v23EdKO0WM pic.twitter.com/m8cVftMwUD
— Chicago Steel (@ChicagoSteel) November 30, 2019
Friday Period Two:
Muskegon extended their lead to 3–1 when forward Artem Shlaine scored his second of the year at the 4:54 mark of the second period. Not much action would take place until the second half of the period when Chicago scored three times as Sean Farrell, Coronato and Mackie Samoskevich each scored for the home team.
Muskegon also received a goal from Cameron Berg which evened the score after two period of play at 4–4. Muskegon goaltender Jack Williams faced 27 shots after two period of play, while Ostman only faced 18 shots total.
Friday Period Three:
Muskegon received goals from left-handed shooting defenseman Dylan Gratton and forward Jack Williams to power the Lumberjacks to the 6–4 victory over the Steel.
Saturday Period One:
The lone goal of the period came off the stick of Steel defenseman Owen Power. His sixth goal of the season, assisted by Farrell and Luke Reid, was the only shot to find the back of the net amongst the 13 Steel shots in the period.
Sean Farrell might have Superman-level vision and here’s the proof https://t.co/mAg31u6Ehu pic.twitter.com/R9Iffh3MbF
— Chicago Steel (@ChicagoSteel) December 1, 2019
Saturday Period Two:
Another wild second period took place, this time in Michigan, as forwards Danil Gushchin and Tanner Kelly beat Ostman in the first few minutes of the period, giving the home team the 2–1 lead.
Not to be outdone though, forward Gunnarwolfe Fontaine scored his eleventh goal of the season, firing a shot past Williams. Power and forward Mathieu De St. Phalle assisted on the game-tying goal.
A 🚀 from 🐺 https://t.co/lJE03ENMt1 pic.twitter.com/ZgtFbjjRhV
— Chicago Steel (@ChicagoSteel) December 1, 2019
More like Victor 🚫stman https://t.co/p7YNhZJvYg
— USHL (@USHL) December 1, 2019
Saturday Period Three:
Gushchin opened the scoring in the third period on an unassisted goal to give the Lumberjacks the 3–2 lead at the 2:42 mark of the period.
At the 16:42 mark, forward Sam Colangelo beat Williams to tie the game and force an overtime period. The goal gives the Northeastern University commit 12 goals on the season.
Here is the goal from Sam, and we cannot stress this enough, GOALangelo https://t.co/FMqMHaxUVX pic.twitter.com/rO8ReBEHiC
— Chicago Steel (@ChicagoSteel) December 1, 2019
Saturday Overtime:
Chicago would score on their only shot on goal needed in overtime as Fontaine beat Williams for his second goal of the game and goal 12 on the season. Ostman stopped 24 shots on the evening for the victory in net.
A big save at one end, the 🐺 Man goes to work at the other and wins the game for the @ChicagoSteel! #WhosNext pic.twitter.com/vvzYnsXrAf
— USHL (@USHL) December 1, 2019