DIMONDALE, Mich. – The Metro Jets made some costly mistakes in the third period to give the Lansing Wolves life but held on for a 5-3 win Friday night at the Summit Sports & Ice Complex.
Five different players scored for the Jets – Joey Bruce, Brady Hanson, Jaylen Dziegelewski, Anthony Cinato (shorthanded, pictured) and Matt Cruz (empty-net) – and Fredrik Meurling made 32 saves in goal.
“It certainly wasn’t our best game skill wise,” Jets associate head coach Jamie Lovell said. “I think both teams struggled to find their games in the first period. We’ve played a lot of hockey lately in a short period of time and it’s important for our guys to learn they’re not going to feel at their best going in to every game. When that happens, we may have to play a simple, perhaps ugly, road game. Tonight was an example of that.
“We made some uncharacteristic mistakes in the third period that kept Lansing in the game, but I was happy how we battled through it and got the win. The plan is to learn from this and use it heading into Pittsburgh tomorrow night because we know they’ll be ready for us.”
After a scoreless first period, Bruce and Hanson scored in the second as the Jets led 2-1 after 40 minutes.
The third period was back and forth, and the Wolves wound up outshooting Metro in the game, 35-32.
“Tonight was definitely a gut-check game,” said Jets forward Rhett Limback. “We had some opportunities to push them off the cliff, but due to some mental mistakes, we let them back in the game. We responded accordingly when we had to, which was good to see.
“These three-in-three games on the road are tough on the body, but this is what we signed up for. With playoffs starting to get some attention, teams are going to sell out to steal any division points they can. This is the time of the year where we trust our habits to play the right way and ultimately reward us. We are happy to come away with two points tonight, but our goal is to get to six come weekend’s end.”
Nathan Albrecht, Brandon Ashley and Brendan Smith scored for Lansing and Sean Finstrom finished with 27 saves in suffering the defeat in net.
The Jets next play Saturday night in Pittsburgh at 6:30 p.m., while the MJDP Team heads on the road as well to play the Tri City Icehawks at 7:30 p.m.
Both games will be streamed on www.HockeyTV.com.
