JANESVILLE, WI – The Bruins battled back numerous times but ultimately fell 4-3 to the Jets on Friday night at Janesville Ice Arena. The Bruins fell into a second place tie with the Minnesota Wilderness entering their final four games of the regular season.
The opening period saw limited action, with just five shots a piece and no penalties. The second period was a different story. Following a Bruins penalty kill, Janesville opened the scoring at 9:08 of the middle frame when a Luke LaMaster shot caromed a rebound right to veteran forward Kip Hoffman who buried the opening salvo. At 13:04 of the period, the Bruins stuck quickly on their first power play. Evan Cholak stuffed a shot from the goal line through Jets goaltender Daniel Lebedeff to tie the game. Travis Kothenbeutel and Chase Pilawski set it up. Just about two minutes later, Janesville jumped back ahead when Simon Sagissor beat Alex Schilling glove-side with a wrist shot. Less then two minutes after that, Ian Mageau scored the first goal of his NAHL career, finishing a rush led by Dan Petrick. The game was tied at two after two periods.
Janesville struck early in the third, scoring a 3:33 when Benjamin Eckerle tipped a pass home at top of the crease. At 8:08, Sagissor shorthanded to give the Jets their first two goal lead. The Bruins used the rest of the power play positively and scored in the final seconds thanks to an Alex Mella wristshot between the circles. With just over a minute remaining in the game, Dante Sheriff circled the net with Lebedeff down and appeared to tie the game by sliding it into an open net. The referee, however, ruled that the net had been dislodged first and waved off the goal. The Bruins ran out of time and fell by a 4-3 final.
Both teams finished with 32 shots, Schilling stopping 28 and Lebedeff turning aside 29. The Bruins and Jets play again on Saturday night in Janesville at 7:00 PM.
