The Janesville Jets played their first road game of the season on Friday, and despite two rapid-fire goals in the first and an early lead in the third period, the Austin Bruins made a late surge to take the first game of the series, 4-3.
While Austin was able to get on the board first with a power play goal at 9:03, the Jets got a power play of their own less than two minutes later and came out fast and furious.
Jaxson Ezman netted his second goal of the season on the man advantage with assists from Jordon Halverson and Justin Thompson to tie the game 1-1. The Jets immediately capitalized on their next opportunity as Alexander Lucken scored his first of the season just 10 seconds later to put the Jets up 2-1 early.
Austin’s Walter Zacher scored 2:38 into the second period to tie the game at two apiece. It was fairly even after 40 minutes, with the shots at 27-26 in the Bruins’ favor.
Shane Ott scored his second goal of the season on Janesville’s first shot of the third period to put Janesville up 3-2 early, with helpers from Max Itagaki and Carter Hottmann.
The Bruins then stepped on the gas and went up on the Jets 10-1 in third period shots, with Barrett Brooks sneaking one through to tie the game yet again. Zacher got his second goal of the night at 16:46 with a 4-3 lead that would win the game for the home team.
Final shots on goal favored the Bruins 28-20, with Janesville’s Owen Millward racking up 24 saves and Austin’s Tyler Shea made 17 stops. Janesville went 1-for-5 on power play opportunities, and Austin was 2-for-4.
The teams face off for game two of the series on Saturday, November 14 at 7:05 p.m. at Riverside Arena. The game will be available to stream via HockeyTV.