By Stephen Dafoe
Morinville – The Morinville Jets entered a best-of-five second round playoff series against the North Edmonton Red Wings over the weekend, emerging out the other end with one win and one loss. The Jets came from behind Friday night to defeat the Red Wings 4-3 in a road game, but were handicapped by a rash of penalties to drop a 7-5 decision to the Red Wings on home ice Sunday afternoon.
Friday night’s road game saw the Jets overcome a first period 2-1 deficit to tie the game 3-3 by the end of the middle frame. Third period saw the Jets pocket the one goal they needed to break the tie and take the first game of the series.
Jets Head Coach Scott Rodda said the key to Friday night’s success was shutting down the Red Wings’ powerhouse line.
“We stayed disciplined and shut down that one line to minimize their chances and we took advantage of our chances,” Rodda said.
But Sunday’s contest proved to be a different affair for the Jets. A rash of penalties gave the Red Wings several two-man advantages which they capitalized on.
“We got into penalty trouble,” Rodda said, adding the Red wings are a good club that will capitalize on their powerplay opportunities. “We’ve got to stay out of the box. At the end we got back to playing our game and we scored a few.”
Three of the Red Wings’ seven goals were scored on the powerplay, as were three of the Jets’ four goals.
The Jets play game three at the Clareview Arena, Feb. 23 at 8 p.m. Game four is scheduled for Feb. 25 at 8:30 p.m. and will be played in Morinville.
