PITTSBURGH – The Metro Jets came from behind to defeat the Pittsburgh Vengeance 4-3 in a shootout Sunday afternoon, sweeping the weekend series at the Alpha Ice Complex.
Conner Graham scored with 3:56 left in the third period and then Justin Song (pictured) scored the deciding goal in the shootout.
“Sounds funny to say, but we’ll take today’s win in a shootout over our 9-4 win last night any day of the week,” said Jets associate head coach Jamie Lovell. “Both teams came ready to play today. It was a much-needed character-building win for our guys. I still feel we carried the play for most of the game but found ourselves having to come from behind. We battled through some adversity to tie the game up three times. And then killed off a full penalty in OT that was huge.
“That’s what will build confidence for this team moving forward as the games get tougher and tougher down the stretch.”
Song and Jhuwon Davis also scored in regulation to go along with 22 saves from goaltender Fredrik Meurling.
“Today was a big win for the boys – us being down with five minutes left and tying it up and then killing the (Jaylen Dziegelewski slashing) penalty off in OT just shows how much fight we have, so it was a big character win,” Davis said. “This weekend was pretty tough coming off a short week of practice because of the showcase and having a three-game weekend on the road. We had to earn everything we got, and we did the job, so I’m proud of the boys for battling this weekend.”
Lovell added that points on the scoresheet weren’t the whole story Sunday.
“We had some key vets step up today – Jeremy Schwartz and Devlin Macaulay had some big shot blocks all game and particularly in OT on the PK,” said Lovell. “Jhuwon showed his leadership scoring and setting up another then kept us in the shootout when we needed a goal to force sudden death.
Great way to finish the weekend, and everyone should be proud of their effort winning three road games in three nights.”
Ian Edgar, Santeri Rajakallio and Nick Erker scored for the Vengeance, while Jacob Zab made 34 saves in suffering the defeat between the pipes.
Later Sunday at Fraser Hockeyland, Travor Granzow’s goal with 9.9 seconds remaining in the third period gave the MJDP Team a thrilling 3-2 win over the Motor City Hockey Club.
Shane Haggerty and Josef Mehall also scored, and Anthony Carlier finished with 35 saves.
This coming weekend, the Jets play in Toledo Friday night at 7 p.m. from the Team Toledo IceHouse and the MJDP plays the Detroit Fighting Irish Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Brownstown Sports Center.
Both games will be streamed on www.HockeyTV.com.
