Gens Fall to Petes
OSHAWA, ON. – The Oshawa Generals dropped their matchup against the rival Peterborough Petes 6-4 Friday night.
Matthew Humphries got his 12th start of the season for the Gens in this edition of the oldest rivalry in junior hockey. Humphries was looking to rebound from the 5-2 loss to Brantford, where he surrendered four goals on 25 shots.
The Petes turned to Matthew Koprowski for his 12th appearance. The last time the Generals saw him, they were able to put five past him in a 5-0 victory.
First Period
The Generals started hot with Mark Pape winning an offensive zone draw. Harrison Franssen pushed the puck back to Leo Laschon, who fired it through a crowd and past Koprowski to put the Gens up 1-0 just over a minute into the game.
Neither team created many opportunities throughout the period until we saw two quick goals at the end of the period.
First, Franssen would score his third of the year off of a great pass from Tyler Hinde on a two-on-one. That assist gave the Gens a 2-0 lead and also extended Hinde’s point streak to nine games.
Unfortunately, less than a minute later Humphries had trouble handling a dump-in that was on goal, and Adam Levac cashed in on the rebound for his eighth goal of the season.
With Levac’s late goal, we headed into the second period with Oshawa defending a 2-1 lead.
Second Period
Unfortunately, the second period was all Petes.
Five minutes into the period, the Petes came down the ice off the rush, and after a scramble in front of the net, Mason Minsky smacked the puck through Humphries legs before he could cover it. Minsky’s fifth goal of the season got this game level with 15 minutes left in the period.
Just under two minutes later, the Petes took their first lead of the game. After entering the Generals’ zone, James McMurray fired it on net, which Humphries stopped, but Lucas Karmiris was on the doorstep to bang in his fifth of the season.
Three minutes later, Karmiris came out from behind his own net and fired a perfect stretch pass to Carson Cameron, who scored on the breakaway to give Peterborough the 4-2 lead.
Oshawa would respond with a breakaway goal off a stretch pass not long after. Linus Funck skated the puck to the top of the circles in the Generals zone before hitting Pape at the Petes blue line for a breakaway.
Pape slid the puck between Koprowski’s legs and barely snuck over the goal line to trim the Petes’ lead down to 4-3.
Just before the end of the period, the Petes would restore their two-goal lead. After a great end-to-end rush from Aiden Young, he fed the puck to Cameron, who fired it towards goal. The shot hit a defenceman in front of the net, and McMurray fired the loose puck past Humphries to give the Petes a 5-3 lead.
With just 40 seconds left in the period after the goal, the scoreline would be 5-3 heading into the final 20 minutes.
Third Period
Around halfway through the third period, the Gens power play finally comes through. After Oshawa won the offensive zone draw, the first unit worked the puck around the top of the umbrella. Kane Cloutier fed Funck, who fired it through a crowd and beat down for his fourth goal of the season.
Levac would add an empty net, and the Petes would hold on to win 6-4.
Game Notes
Unfortunately, a sloppy second period ended any hope the Gens had of winning this game. After allowing four unanswered goals, the Petes felt in control of the rest of the game, responding quickly to Pape’s answer.
Poor net-front defence resulted in many of the goals during the second period, so the Generals will need to clean it up for Saturday night’s game.
In the third period, the Generals had some chances to tie the game up but just couldn’t find the back of the net.
The Generals play the second game of a three-game, three-night stretch tomorrow night against the Brantford Bulldogs at 7:00 PM.
