ERIE, Pa. – The Metro Jets continued their longstanding rivalry with the Pittsburgh Vengeance Tuesday afternoon at the ErieBank Sports Park, taking a late 2-0 lead and hanging on for a 2-1 win.
Nick Ceccarini and Conner Graham (pictured front) scored for the Jets, while Louis-Pierre Fortier (pictured below) made 21 saves in goal for the victory.
“The guys did a good job controlling the play offensively,” said Jets coach-GM Justin Quenneville. “Their goalie (Noah Bonvissuto, 28 saves) made some timely saves and we just couldn’t get that next one, but (Ryan) Messing, (Matt) Cole and Ceccarini scored a big goal in the second and got one more which proved to be enough. We still need to clean up a few things coming out of our zone, and we will be better in those areas tomorrow.
“We know Pittsburgh will push back like they did in the third, and we will be ready for a big one tomorrow.”
The Jets and Pittsburgh rematch Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. before the Jets play the Lake Erie Bighorns at 3:30 p.m.
Also Tuesday in Erie, the Bighorns defeated the MJDP 8-3.
Kam Hellman and Joey Mocnik each had a goal and an assist, while Mitch Forton also scored and Caden Fisher finished with 18 stops between the pipes.
“We got punched in the mouth today,” Jets associate coach Jamie Lovell said. “That was a wakeup call, that’s for sure.
“Nothing went our way tonight. Lake Erie came to play. We outshot them (39-26), and outchanced them, but they outscored us. It wasn’t good enough and our guys know that. We will be better tomorrow and respond the right way. We need to create our own luck, plain and simple.”
The MJDP plays Pittsburgh Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
All USPHL games are available on HockeyTV.com.
