Iowa Heartlanders win away from advancing in ECHL playoffs after Game 5 win

CORALVILLE - They did a postgame lap around the rink with sticks raised to salute their fans.

That’s what done at the end of a hockey season.

But the funny thing is Thursday night might not have been the final game this season at Xtream Arena for the Iowa Heartlanders. A 5-2 win in Game 5 of this best-of-7 first-round series over the Fort Wayne Comets has the Heartlanders on the verge of advancing in the ECHL playoffs.

Iowa takes a 3-2 series lead to Indiana for Sunday afternoon’s Game 6 (a 4:05 game). If there is a Game 7 needed, it also would be Tuesday night at Fort Wayne.

Two to win one ... anyone would take that.

“The fourth win in a seven-game series always is the hardest one to get. Absolutely,” said Heartlander Coach Derek Damon. “They’re going to be fighting for their lives, they’re going to be desperate. We’ve just got to match their desperation and stay true to who we are as a team. Stay disciplined. If we do that, we’ll give ourselves a chance.”

The Heartlanders scored three unanswered goals in a five-minute span in the latter half of the first period Thursday night to more or less put this one away. With the series tied at a game apiece, Iowa lost a wild Game 3 Monday night at Xtream Arena in overtime, 7-6, but recovered to win Tuesday night’s Game 4 in double overtime, 3-2.

The momentum from what likely was a season-saving series seemed to carry over early here.

“You get timely goals on the power play in the playoffs, and that’s huge,” Damon said. “Right now in the playoffs, they’ve (the power play) been working together. It’s a credit to them. Then those other two goals just come from hard work and determination. That just sums up our team in a nutshell. The guys are determined, they play with urgency. They played with pace and energy tonight.”

Keltie Jeri-Leon was the first star of this game.

The forward, acquired in a mid-season trade from Savannah of the ECHL, popped home a rebound of a shot originally taken by defenseman Mike Koster for a power-play goal and a 1-0 Iowa lead at 12:27 of the opening period.

A little over three minutes later, he skated off the bench after a line change and into the slot unchecked, where he took a centering feed from Jonny Sorenson and ripped a wrister past Fort Wayne goaltender Brett Brochu to make it 2-0.

A bad Fort Wayne turnover led to Zach Dubinsky getting a good shot off that Brochu saved. But the puck went straight to Jack O’Brien in the circle.

With no one around, he was able to hesitate, fully gather the puck and pick his spot, which was past Brochu’s glove and into the net for a 3-0 Heartlanders edge.

“We had a big stress on a good start tonight,” Jeri-Leon said. “After a double-overtime game like that, a long game, our goal was to come out really hard, start really fast. We were pretty successful.”

Former Heartlanders defenseman Matt Murphy scored early in the second period to put Fort Wayne on the scoreboard, but Iowa defenseman Mike Koster got that goal back by pinching in deep and taking a Luke Mobley feed that he was able to wrist home.

Fort Wayne got an early short-handed goal in the third period, but nothing more. Mobley scored into an empty net with 1:47 left for the final margin.

“After the first period, it was reset. Don’t think about the score,” Jeri-Leon said. “Just play like it’s 0-0, play like we’re down. I think on the bench everybody was harping that, too. I think it’s tough sometimes when you get up in a game. You can get complacent, for sure. But we had a really good bench tonight. All the guys bought in, knowing that it was no time to be complacent.”

The game was halted for awhile with between three and four minutes left when Fort Wayne forward Odeen Tufto, who played part of last season with the Heartlanders, seemed to occur a severe injury to his left leg in a scrum against the boards in the Heartlanders end.

Players from both teams immediately and furiously motioned for Fort Wayne’s trainer to come tend to Tufto, who was in obvious pain. He had to be stretchered off the ice and is suspected to have broken his leg.

“That’s tough,” Damon said. “It’s tough, even when you’re going to war with someone like that, that’s really tough to see. It just takes the wind out of our sails. Credit to the guys, they kept a positive bench. They stayed locked in. I hope and pray that Odeen will be healthy.”

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