Green Bay snapped their losing streak with a 5-1 win against the Des Moines Buccaneers with a hat trick by Julian Lutz, and goals by Libor Nemec, and Will Hughes.
In a first period that was dominated by the Des Moines Buccaneers, the Gamblers were outshot 16 to 7. Adam Gajan made many big saves to keep the Buccaneers out of the goal. The Gamblers were able to score a goal against the run of play at the end of the period when Lutz scored his first goal of his Gamblers career at 18:34 with an assist by Ben Poitras on the powerplay.
Des Moines got out of the gates quick and kept firing shots at the Green Bay goal early in the second period, yet Gajan continued to turn them away. Even while being outshot 20 to 6, the Gamblers scored their second goal of the game again through Lutz at the 14:26. The Germany native took advantage of a Gambler power play and scored off of an assist by Chris Romaine, and Poitras. Lutz was able to complete the hat trick at 18:51 with another assist from Poitras.
Green Bay further put their stamp on the game with a goal at the 4:33 of the third period through Nemec to make it 4-0. The Slovakia native scored his fifth goal of the season on yet another assist by Poitras. Des Moines was finally able to break through the Gamblers line with a consolation goal at 13:01 through Jack Kernan. The Minnesota native received the puck from Lubomir Kupko in the slot to put the Buccaneers on the board.
Green Bay later ended the scoring with an empty net goal by Will Hughes. The Harvard commit ended his debut in style by having the easiest goal of his career on a breakaway empty net at 18:53 to make the final score 5-1.
Key stats: Des Moines outshot Green Bay 51 to 20. Green Bay went 2-for-5 on power plays, while Des Moines went 0-for-6.
Three stars: 1st Lutz 3 goals, 2nd Poitras 4 assists, 3rd Gajan 50 saves.
