BULLDOGS BEST PETES IN RETURN OF HAYES & WHITE TO HAMILTON
HAMILTON, ONTARIO. The Hamilton Bulldogs were back on home ice Saturday afternoon for a matchup against the visiting Peterborough Petes. The afternoon puck drop marked the first time for Avery Hayes and Gavin White returning to the FirstOntario Centre since their trade to Peterborough on January 7th.
Tristan Malboeuf got into the game quickly making his first stops off of point shots from Brennan Othmann & Samuel Mayer and a beautiful one-timer stop off the stick of Avery Hayes as the Hamilton netminder darted from left to right. Approaching the midway point of the period Adrian Rebelo moved the puck into the offensive zone, cutting to the middle and wiring a wrist shot on net that Liam Sztuska got a piece of while Florian Xhekaj was just out of reach to tap in the rebound. Late in the period and with the Petes applying pressure, Noah Nelson blocked a shot and chased the puck up ice, with his hard work leading to Sahil Panwar picking up the loose puck and skating it into the middle, sending a backhand to the net. Braeden O’Keefe grabbed the rebound and tried to wrap it around Sztuska, but he was able to stretch his leg across and cover the puck. With Malboeuf & Sztuska each denying 10 shots in the opening frame the game went to the first intermission scoreless.
With the Bulldogs on the power-play at 9:13, the hosts opened the scoring as Nick Lardis received a Jorian Donovan pass and lasered a shot through the five-hole of Liam Sztuska for his 26th of the season, putting Hamilton ahead 1-0. Tristan Malboeuf stayed hot in the middle frame making big saves off the likes of Beck, Othmann and Jonathan Melee to keep the Bulldogs up a goal. With 6:09 remaining in the middle frame, Lawson Sherk picked up the puck in the neutral zone and tried to get a step on defenseman Konnor Smith, though he wasn’t able to get to the inside, Sherk still managed to push the puck to the front of the net, and Noah Nelson was in the right place and snapped the puck through the five hole of Sztuska doubling the Bulldogs lead for Nelson’s 3rd of the season. With just 39 seconds left in the period, Nick Lardis was one-on-one with Gavin White, Lardis kept the puck on his backhand and while pushing off White, Sztuska attempted to poke check the puck but wasn’t quite quick enough as Lardis brought it to his forehand around the Petes netminder and deposited into the cage for a highlight reel goal, tallying his 2nd of the game extending the Bulldogs lead to 3-0. The scoring was not done for the period however as the Petes burst into the offensive zone and sent the puck net front to Connor Lockhart who tipped it past Malboeuf for his 22nd of the season at 19:59, to cut the Petes deficit to 3-1 Hamilton entering the final frame.
After a Lawson Sherk shorthanded bid was denied early in the third period, Patrick Thomas raced to the rebound but Sztuska made a spectacular desperation save preventing a short-handed goal keeping the Petes in striking distance. At 5:04 the desperation paid off as Gavin White sent the puck to Avery Hayes who curled and wristed it past the blocker of Malboeuf as the former Bulldogs connected to make it a 3-2 game on Hayes’ 35th of the year. That was as close as the Petes would get however as Tristan Malboeuf recorded 29 saves and Lawson Sherk hit the empty net at 19:11, from Nick Lardis, giving both Bulldogs forwards 3-point games in the 4-2 victory over their division rival.
The Bulldogs are back in action on Wednesday, February 15th as they travel to Oshawa for a divisional matchup against the Generals at the Tributes Communities Centre. The puck drops at 7:05pm.
For more information on Hamilton Bulldogs 2022-23 Flex packages or single game tickets call 905-529-8500 or visit hamiltonbulldogs.com.
