DUBLIN, Ohio – The Metro Jets didn’t play the most complete hockey game Friday night against the Columbus Mavericks, but the offense was enough and Louis-Pierre Fortier turned in his second shutout of the season in a 3-0 win at the OhioHealth Chiller North.
Conner Graham, Chance Desana and Alex Schaumburger scored for Metro, while Fortier (pictured) stopped all 28 shots fired his way for his second straight shutout since blanking the Fort Wayne Spacemen on Oct. 3 at the USPHL Detroit Showcase at Fraser Hockeyland.
“Columbus came out hard out of the gates and it took us a few shifts to get going,” said Jets coach-GM Justin Quenneville. “Both goalies made some big saves tonight and ‘LP’ was big for us with timely saves in the second to keep the lead. We did a better job managing the puck and establishing our presence offensively as the game went on, but we need to better from puck drop Sunday.”
Mavericks goaltender Alex Toth finished with 42 saves in suffering the defeat.
“We feel great with this win because we had a slow start and then we worked hard to get the second goal to give us some breathing room,” Fortier said. “Then we dominated as the game went on.
“Our team is very close, and we know what we have to do on the ice. We all have each other’s backs.”
The Jets and Columbus meet again Sunday at 6:45 p.m. back at Fraser Hockeyland.
“We are still working through some kinks as group, but we are starting to see flashes of Jets hockey,” Quenneville said. “Tonight was a good test for us, and we showed some of our versatility in winning our shifts when it counted, but our goal is to be consistent for a full 60 on Sunday and I’m confident our guys will be better from the start on Sunday.”
Also this weekend, the MJDP travels to the Southgate Ice Arena to play the Detroit Fighting Irish at 2 p.m. Saturday, while the MHC is off to Pittsburgh for a two-game set with the Pittsburgh Vengeance Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday at 11:40 a.m. from the Alpha Ice Complex.
All games will be streamed on www.HockeyTV.com.
