Five-Goal First Launches Petes to 6-3 Win
There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Saturday’s game was Pink in the Rink night, with the PMC packed full of pink tshirts, scarves, jerseys, and stick tape. With the Spitfires in town, the Petes looked to capture their fourth point on the weekend and move into sole possession of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Electric City Boys were hot out of the gates, scoring five unanswered to down the Spits 6-3.
After a touching opening ceremony, the Petes came out guns blazing with two goals in the first five minutes. Eric Cornel forced a turnover in the Spitfire zone, and after Hunter Garlent scooped up a loose puck and fed it back to Cornel, the Sabres prospect made no mistake to make it 1-0.
Not to be outdone, just 30 seconds later Josh MacDonald went bar-down from Michael Clarke and Steve Varga to extend the Petes’ lead to 2-0. MacDonald’s period came to a crashing halt, though, as the overager took a bad spill head first into the boards. He would return in the second.
When play resumed, the Petes quickly took a penalty, but for the second straight game scored a short-handed breakaway goal. Jonathan Ang went in alone on Johnston and put a great pump-fake-deke on Johnston to make it 3-0 at the 13:17 mark.
Peterborough wasn’t done in the first, and neither was Ang, as the rookie got himself in the right place at the right time to bury a loose puck from Maguire and Varga. Before the opening twenty was up, Lorentz finished a nice powerplay set-up from Clarke and Betzold, and the Petes took their 5-0 lead into the first intermission along with a 19-16 shot advantage.
Where the Petes left off in the first, the Spitfires picked up in the second as Trevor Murphy scored from Logan Brown and Lucas Venuto mid-way through the frame after the visitors controlled play early on. Slater Doggett added his first of two straight goals just a minute later, drawing helpers from Markus Soberg and Murphy.
The Spits couldn’t put further dents in the Peterborough armour in the second, though, and the frame ended with Matt Mancina weathering a storm, leading 32-30 and 5-2.
Things got a lot more interesting early in the third period as Doggett lit the lamp again, this time from Jamie Lewis and Andrew Burns just 1:16 in. The game went back and forth through the final period, but there were no further goals other than an empty netter from Hunter Garlent assisted by Cornel and Betzold. The Petes took home their second win of the weekend with a 6-3 victory on Pink in the Rink night.
Ang, Varga, and Doggett were the Original Pond gear first, second, and third stars of the game, with Matt Mancina earning Mark’s Work Wearhouse hardest working player of the game with 36 saves in the Giant Tiger Petes win.
Peterborough is off until next Thursday as when the Oshawa Generals come back to the PMC. Tickets are available here while supplies last, and don’t forget to follow the Petes on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
