Despite outshooting the Springfield Jr. Blues 39-29 Saturday night, the Minnesota Wilderness fell short 4-3 in the finale of a weekend series.
Karson Young, Ben Doll and Lucas Jendek scored for Minnesota. Springfield had goals from Niko Laus, Logan Sutton, Gage Giblin and Junsu Kwak.
Young’s and Doll’s tallies combined to give the Wilderness a brief 2-1 first period lead. Springfield eliminated that lead 28 seconds after Doll’s goal to make it 2-2.
Young scored on a shot from the high slot at the 11:55 mark. Doll then followed with a highlight reel-worthy goal where he took out a defender and then the goaltender with some slick puck-handling with 4:14 left in the opening frame.
Two Jr. Blue goals in the 2nd period then gave the Wilderness a 2-goal deficit going into the third period. Jendek then scored a power play goal with 5:02 remaining in regulation to cut Springfield’s lead to 4-3.
Nick Erickson suffered his second consecutive defeat in goal, stopping 25 of 29 Springfield shots. Matt Schoephoerster earned the win making 36 saves on 39 Wilderness shots.
The Wilderness ended the night 1-for-6 on the power play, while its penalty kill was perfect keeping the Jr. Blues scoreless on four chances.
Minnesota (3-5-1) and Springfield (5-2-0) will meet each other again next weekend. The two squads will square off in Springfield for another two-game series on Oct. 11 and 12.