Jets Grab OT Victory in Austin, Split Series

Nov 15, 2020

It took some extra minutes, but the Janesville Jets came away with a win on the road Saturday to split the series with the Austin Bruins and add two points to their record.

The game was knotted at 1-1 for 36 minutes and 44 seconds before Xavier Lapointe found an open lane, blazed through the Austin zone and netted his first goal of the season for the overtime victory. 

Austin opened the scoring for the second night in a row with a goal from Mason Poolman just 2:54 into the game. The remainder of the first period went by quietly, with both teams killing a penalty apiece and the Jets outshooting the Bruins 10-8. 

Tension began to rise in the second period and a scuffle between Austin’s Ben Oakland and Janesville’s Jaxson Ezman drew major penalties and a power play for the Bruins. 

Jake Sacratini then came up big for the Jets off a draw and scored his first goal of the season, shorthanded, to tie the score at 1-1 after two periods.

The Bruins came out strong in the third period and outshot the Jets 6-2 through 13 minutes of play. Janesville quickly shifted the momentum with a power play and ended up gaining the shot advantage of 9-7, but couldn’t get anything through as the period ended.  

The overtime period was a back-and-forth battle that looked like it may not break the tie until returning Jet Xavier Lapointe scored with 1:03 remaining to secure Janesville two road points. 

The Jets managed to outshoot the Bruins in every period on the evening, with a final edge of 29-23. Owen Millward stopped 22 of those shots for the win and to bring his record to 2-1-0-0. 

The Jets are now 3-1-0-0 overall and are tied for first in the Midwest Division with the Kenai River Brown Bears. The Jets host the Brown Bears in a home series Nov. 20-21.