Petes Come Out on Top in Nailbiter Against the 67’s
Although the Petes faced a series of bad bounces in the previous six games, the maroon and white stepped onto the ice determined to break their span of bad luck, coming up with a 5-4 game and hat trick for Pavel Gogolev.
The tone of the game was set early on when Gogolev buried the puck past Cedrick Andree off the first shot of the period giving the Petes the lead within seconds of puck drop.
GOGO GOAAAAL! @Pavel_gogolev17 gets the Petes on the board early, just 18 seconds into the game!#RISE #GoPetesGo pic.twitter.com/6AAa01Gcda
— Peterborough Petes (@PetesOHLhockey) December 31, 2017
The 67’s kept their foot on the pedal entering the offensive with speed as Graem Clarke walked into the slot and took Ottawa’s first clean shot off, of the game. Following back to back saves by Dylan Wells, Petes’ defensemen Cole Fraser and 67’s right winger Kody Clark each took a two minute seat in the sin bin for roughing.
Fans were shown four on three hockey when Austin Osmanksi took an interference penalty at 8:06. Fortunately the Electric City Kids’ penalty kids kept the nation’s capital scoreless.
Logan DeNoble nearly gave the Petes their second of the evening while short handed off a series of rebounds, however Andree was able to freeze the puck off the captain’s final shot.
Zach Gallant, Pavel Gogolev and Jonathan Ang continued to move the puck well in the offensive end and set up clean scoring opportunities late in the first, however a second goal was unable to be tallied. A second round of four vs four hockey unfolded when Gally and Nikita Okhotyuk each took a roughing penalty.
The Petes ended the first period with a power play when Kevin Bahl was sent to the penalty box for tripping at 18:51.
The 67’s took control early on in the second when a clean face off win by Mitchell Hoelscher was translated into a pass then game tying goal by Kody Clark.
Logan DeNoble came up with a major block in the defensive end at 14:25, that was converted into an odd man rush in favour of the Petes. Gogolev appeared to have the hot hand, wheeling around Ottawa’s defensemen to turn a back hand shot into his second of the night, returning the lead to the hometown boys.
In case you missed @Pavel_gogolev17‘s second period backhand beauty #RISE #GoPetesGo pic.twitter.com/gsSrRCoTd0
— Peterborough Petes (@PetesOHLhockey) December 31, 2017
The Petes played down a man for the first time in the second period when Gallant took a two minute seat for tripping. Wells flashed the leather at 7:17, however the windmill save couldn’t seem to keep the Petes ahead on the scoreboard for long as Tye Felhaber saw Petes’ mesh at 8:56.
Felhaber continued to make the scoresheet when he converted a shot from Kevin Bahl into a tip past Wells, and shortly after coming out of a Petes blue line breakdown with a breakaway to secure the the hat trick.
The second period ended with a 4-2 lead for the 67’s.
Although Ottawa maintained control of the puck during the top quarter of the final period, Gogolev began closing the gap on the scoreboard following a power play, earning himself a hat trick and 4-3 game.
The Petes urgency revved up throughout the third. The maroon and white took advantage of their second power play of the period, when Adam Timleck perfectly connected with a shot from Nikita Korostelev to tie the game with 4 minutes left in the game.
The energy continued to flow in the Petes direction, as they were afforded an extra body on the ice at 16:26 when Peter Stratis took a two minute penalty for interference. Although they did not score while on the power play, five seconds into five on five hockey, defensemen Alex Black left the blue line, sneaking into the slot to tap one through the traffic and past Andree, leaving the Petes with a 5-4 win.
First Star: Gogolev (17)
Second Star: Felhaber (29)
Third Star: Timleck (18)
The men in maroon return to the PMC ice on Monday, January 1 at 2:05pm for their first game of the new year against the Kitchener Rangers. Game tickets are available starting at $8 through the Collins Barrow PMC Box Office, online, or by phone at (705) 743-3561.
