Petes Shutout Steelheads 4-0
The Peterborough Petes looked to make it two wins in a row as they travelled to Mississauga to take on the Steelheads at the Hershey Centre on Friday night. The Steelheads sat nine points back of the Petes for sixth place in the Eastern Conference, with the Petes up 2-1 in the season series. The Petes dominated the game from start-to-finish, earning a huge 4-0 win.
The Petes were in control through the first ten minutes of the opening frame, testing Steelheads’ standout starter Spencer Martin with several strong chances. Martin was solid early on, though, keeping the score tied at zero despite the Petes high tempo.
Andrew D’Agostini didn’t have to wait long past the mid-way mark to match Martin’s great play as the Steelheads woke up and began piling chance after high-quality chance from in close on the Petes’ keeper.
D’Agostini was happy to maintain the momentum gained from his first star, 41-save performance the night before, as each team fought for the first goal. At the end of the opening period, the score remained tied 0-0, with the Petes leading 13-8 in shots.
In the second frame, Peterborough again appeared to be the hungrier of the two teams. Just before the 5:00 mark, Anthony Stefano chipped the puck around a Steelheads’ defenceman and hustled the length of the ice before feeding Stephen Nosad who deked around Martin and roofed a backhander to make it 1-0 Petes.
Just a few minutes later, the Stefano-Nosad-Tanus line had another great shift, applying relentless pressure on Martin and his defence. Nelson Armstrong collected the puck at the point and crossed it to Matt Spencer who took a page out of Jay Bouwmeester’s book with a shot-pass to Anthony Stefano who redirected the puck through Martin’s legs to make it 2-0 Petes.
Just 1:05 later, Nick Ritchie got into the action with a bullet wrister from the slot over Martin’s glove. Eric Cornel and Hunter Garlent, as usual, assisted on Ritchie’s goal to give the Petes a 3-0 lead before the half-way point of the game. D’Agostini only had to make one stop in the first half of the period, although it was a highlight reel glove save.
There was little action in the second half of the second with each team employing relatively ineffective dump-and-chase games. At the conclusion of the frame, the Petes had scored as many goals as the Steelheads recorded shots, with Peterborough leading 3-0 heading into the third period.
The third period looked much like the second did through the first fifteen minutes, with the Petes absolutely dominating play with a relentless forecheck. Peterborough couldn’t muster any goals through the first seventeen minutes, but Mississauga registered even fewer chances as the Petes effectively smothered the home team. With just over two minutes to play in regulation, Stephen Nosad and Anthony Stefano hooked up again, with Nosad setting up the rookie for his second goal of the night to make it 4-0 Peterborough, also assisted by Jonathan Tanus.
The game would end with the Petes earning a 4-0 win, Andrew D’Agostini’s third shut-out on the season with the Petes dominating the shot-clock by a total of 40-15. Nick Zottl, Andrew D’Agostini, and Anthony Stefano were the third, second, and first stars of the game, respectively.
The Petes are on the road in Belleville on Sunday at 2pm, and are at home against the hated Oshawa Generals next Thursday, February 27th. Tickets are still available here, and make sure you follow the Petes on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all of the best news, updates, and contests. Fans are also invited to attend the big team announcement at the PMC next Tuesday at 1:30pm!
