ERIE, Pa. – Nathan Vazquez scored on his first shot on his first shift in his first game in a Metro Jets uniform and added another goal as the Jets never trailed en route to downing the Lake Erie Bighorns 7-3 Friday night at the ErieBank Sports Park.
Stefan Frantti also notched his first junior goal with an assist, Jason Crossland (pictured front) scored twice and added an assist, and Matt Cole (pictured below) tallied a goal and three assists to pace the Metro attack.
The Jets led 6-0 after 40 minutes.
“It was a really good effort for two periods,” said Jets associate coach Jamie Lovell. “The first two periods, we gave them nothing and totally controlled the play. I’m not sure where that went in the third period. We lost focus and gave them some life going into tomorrow’s game.”
The two teams wrap up the weekend series Saturday at 11 a.m.
“Our special teams need to get a lot better as we keep losing that battle over and over lately in games,” Lovell said. “We went 0 for 4 on the power play and they went 2 for 2. Not good.
“It’s never easy beating a team on back-to-back nights, especially on the road, so we need to come prepared tomorrow for a battle.”
Jets captain Matt Cruz and Alec Lindecker contributed two assists apiece, Alex Schaumburger netted a goal, and Will Augustine stopped 12 shots in goal as the Jets outshot Lake Erie 61-15.
In Columbus, the MHC suffered a 6-0 defeat to the Columbus Mavericks.
Sal Carabelli finished with 44 saves in goal and also stopped a Tim Kramer penalty shot late in the third period.
“We can’t pick and choose what shifts we want to play,” Jets assistant coach Tina Ciraulo said. “We need to play a full game to be able to compete. Also need to stay out of the box. We had some opportunities to bury some, and just need to find the back of the net. Hopefully tomorrow night, the boys come ready to play for a full game and stay out of the box.”
Tyler Dorion registered a 29-save shutout for the Mavericks.
Game time Saturday back at the OhioHealth Chiller North is 6:30 p.m.
All games will be streamed on HockeyTV.com.
