The Generals Are Now Officially On A Winning Streak!

Photo: Head Coach, Jason Muzzatti, Italian Pro League.

The winning streak has now reached two games for the Flint Generals. The Generals currently sit in the 6th position in the IHL, and have not won consecutive games in the 2009-10 campaign until now.

It's not just a matter of stringing wins together, it's become an issue of putting together three solid periods of hockey, something that the Flint Generals have struggled to do all season.

If there's a silver lining to this otherwise dark cloud, the Lumberjacks are a team that the G-Men have defeated this year. (Dayton, Quad City, and Muskegon).

The league-leading Muskegon Lumberjacks paid the Flint Generals a visit on Sunday, riding a healthy nine game winning streak, with the intent of stretching the win-streak to an unprecedented 10 games.

Sunday's match-up would feature one of the IHL's better power play units (Muskegon, 17.7%, 4th) against one of the worst penalty killing platoons, (Flint, 79.5%, 6th). There's no question that the lack of special teams production have hindered the Generals thus far, their penalty killing has made matters worse. The Generals have lost seven of 14 contests by one goal. If this doesn't stress the importance of penalty killing/power play success, I don't what does.

Muskegon's Right Winger Robin Bouchard put the 'Jacks on the board first, netting a power play goal early in the first frame. Bouchard lit the lamp twice in the opening set, leading to his league best 14th and 15th goals.

The Lumberjacks would quickly show the Generals why they're the IHL's top scoring unit, Muskegon was able to able to net three pucks on just six shots in the first period. Flint's Head Coach Jason Muzzatti was forced to pull J.F. Labbe, opting for rookie net-minder Rob Nolan to defend the net instead.  

Flint's John Mori continued to enjoy his three game scoring streak, his goal helped to bring the Generals within two against the Lumberjacks Sunday night. Mori has now scored in four consecutive games, a team high in that regard.

Rick Smith got his first goal as a Gen, cutting the Lumberjack lead to just one, sparking the offense and giving fans something to cheer about.

Generals net-minder Rob Nolan looked more like a third baseman than a goaltender in the second period. Nolan was flashing the leather like the Detroit Tigers' Brandon Inge, snagging every puck within glove's reach.

The second stanza was one of the better periods of hockey that the G-Men have played all year. They were able to out-shoot the Lumberjacks, which in-turn resulted in more opportunities to score goals, and they were able to do just that. The Gens played a faster-paced-physical-style of hockey, which has often worked to their advantage.

The General power play came to life in the third period, Brandon Gentile rocketed the puck past Muskegon's Matt Lundin to knot it up at three a piece with just under two minutes remaining.

Flint out-played Muskegon for the nearly the entirety of the game, with the exception of 3:14 in the first period, the span in which the 'Jacks were able to put three shots past Generals net-minder J.F. Labbe.

The Generals' valiant fight through 60 minutes to overcome a three goal deficit earned them an overtime frame, a chance for the home-towners to right the ship. Three hundred seconds of bonus hockey wasn't enough to decide the Muskegon/Flint matchup, this one would come down to the fan favorite shoot-out.

Pascal Rheaume would net the game winning goal via shoot-out, giving the Generals their 5th win of the year.

After the game, I spoke with rookie goaltender Rob Nolan. I asked him how it felt for the team to win two consecutive games for the first time in the young season, "It feels good. It's only two out of seventy-something games, it's an up-hill climb, that's for sure."

Now that the Generals have gotten the back-to-back win monkey off their back, they can now focus on just playing solid hockey from here on out. The G-Men will take on Bloomington's Prairie Thunder at home, Friday December 4th, at 7:30 p.m. Be sure to come out to the Perani Arena and support your Generals, the grittiest guys in the business!

Here's the brightside, Generals fans: Flint now extends their advantage on the season against Muskegon, winning two of three match-ups, while winning back-to-back games for the first time all season.  

Stars of the Game: Rob Nolan, Flint, Goaltender. Robin Bouchard, Muskegon, LW. Pascal Rheaume, Flint, C.