ERIE, Pa. – The Metro Jets and MJDP both rebounded in major ways Wednesday afternoon, each taking a victory at the ErieBank Sports Park.
The Jets used six different goal scorers to knock off the Lake Erie Bighorns 6-0, while the MJDP defeated the Pittsburgh Vengeance 2-1.
For the Jets, Cody Mastay had a goal and two assists, Jack Mueller (pictured front) and Cristian Adragna each posted a goal and an assist, and Matt Cole (pictured below) chipped in two assists.
“A big difference in approach this afternoon,” said Jets coach-GM Justin Quenneville. “I thought our guys did a great job managing the puck and getting to the net. We controlled the play and made the game hard on them for 200 feet. We know this weekend they will be fired up to come back at us, but we will be ready.”
Conner Graham, Jason Crossland and Ryan Messing added goals and Louis-Pierre Fortier turned aside all 12 shots fired his way as the Jets outshot Lake Erie 39-12.
The Jets host the Bighorns Sunday at 6:30 p.m. and Monday at 11 a.m. at Fraser Hockeyland.
The MJDP used a 13-save effort from goalie Daniel Miscavish to pick up the win over Pittsburgh.
“Very good effort today from top to bottom,” Jets associate coach Jamie Lovell said. “The close score was not indicative of how we think the game actually was. We controlled the play throughout most of the game but just didn’t convert on our chances as much as we should have. We got into penalty trouble in the second half which gave Pittsburgh a chance, but our PK was solid and Daniel Miscavish shut the door. That’s a great bounce-back game for him after a disappointing effort in his last appearance, so I’m happy for him. Happy for all our guys, really. We needed that win today against a strong and confident Pittsburgh team, who was coming off a big win themselves.”
Tommy Purton and Tim Washburn scored for the MJDP while Miscavish lost his shutout bid with 27 seconds left in the third period.
“We needed to get back some of that swagger we lost over our past few disappointing games,” Lovell said. “As we get closer to the end of the regular season, we fully expect them to carry this into the home stretch.”
The MJDP next plays a home-and-home series with the Fort Wayne Spacemen Feb. 20-21, with the second game at Fraser Hockeyland for a 6:30 p.m. puck drop. The first game is at 7:15 p.m. from the SportONE/Parkview Icehouse in Fort Wayne.
All USPHL games are available on HockeyTV.com.
