Attack Steal a Point in Peterborough
The Attack hit the road for the first of 3 games this week, first landing at the PMC to face of against the Petes for a Thursday night tilt.
The Petes and Attack got off to a high-speed start, trading offensive-zone time for the first 10 minutes of the opening frame. A great shift from the Attack’s Jake Crawford and Cole Zurawski led to extended offensive pressure, and a great against the grain passing play from Blake Munnings created a tap-in backdoor pass from Crawford to Zurawski for the game’s opening goal. The Petes responded a few minutes later on a powerplay when Peterborough’s deadline addition Kieron Walton netted his 31st of the season. Then a short time after, a penalty review on the Attack’s Lenny Greenberg led to a 5-minute major where the Petes added a second goal with just over 20 seconds left in the opening frame on a Leon Kolarik tally.
In the second, both teams traded powerplays early with close calls at both ends as the penalty kill units held on. Goaltenders Matthew Koprowski for the Attack and Easton Rye for the Petes stood tall throughout the frame keeping the score 2-1 leading into the final period.
The 3rd period of play featured much of the same action as the first and second. The teams traded chances with the Attack working several powerplay opportunities including a 5-minute major for slashing to the Petes’ Brayden McCallum at the tail end of which the Attack finally capitalized as Pierce Mbuyi blasted home his 26th goal of the campaign. Despite more chances at each end, neither team could finish off the game in regulation.
In a back-and-forth extra frame each team came close to ending the game early. Top NHL draft prospect Adam Novotny made some slick moves forcing Koprowski to stand tall on a wraparound and a separate chance in the slot, while Harry Nansi couldn’t quite find the twine on a breakaway in alone on Rye. Finally with under a minute left in overtime, Walton wired home his second of the game from the slot, leaving the Attack with points in 3 of their last 4 games.
The bears are back at it on the road tomorrow night in Kingston as they take on the Eastern Conference’s 7th place squad in the Frontenacs.
