Lakeshore head coach Anthony Iaquinta wasn't overjoyed with his team's performance in a 3-1 loss in Essex Sunday which tied the Stobbs Division final 2-2. He was happy with the way his team responded in game 5 Tuesday night at home with a 4-2 win. "We played harder for sure," Iaquinta said. "I still think there's room for growth. Our minds are set for Friday. We gotta win a game."
Essex head coach Tony Piroski gave credit to the Canadiens. "They deserved to win the game," Piroski said. "That was probably the most dominating game in the series and unfortunately they were the ones doing the dominating."
Essex forward Luke Sherk opened the scoring in the second with his 5th of the playoffs but Lakeshore's Marco Sladoje evened things up just over two minutes later.
Sladoje got an assist on Lakeshore's second goal. He took a wrist shot from the left circle that Wyatt Sloetjes stopped but the rebound went to Kyle Walker at the side of the net. He tucked it between Sloetjes' blocker and the post for a 2-1 Canadiens's lead.
Essex tied the game early in the third on a goal by Nate Dowling but Zach Vaillancourt threw a wrister low blocker and beat Sloetjes at 11:51 for what turned out to be the game winner.
Bryce Scarlett scored on the empty net as Lakeshore takes a 3-2 series lead. The Habs have a chance to close out the 73's in the playoffs in Essex for a second straight year. "We can't lose anymore, that's for sure," Piroski told Powerplay Sports. "We gotta practice and get ready for Friday."
Game 6 is in Essex Friday night. "We're very fortunate our guys have been in a lot of these games before," Iaquinta said. "For us we focus on the next shift. At the end of the day you can only control your effort and your attitude and that's what we're going to focus on."