Petes Fall in Shootout to the 67’s
Peterborough held two-goal leads twice but suffered their first shootout defeat, 5-4, courtesy of the Ottawa 67’s on Saturday evening at the Peterborough Memorial Centre. Michael Simpson made 31 saves.
The game started with up and down action emphasized by rattling body checks on the boards.
Soon enough, the Maroon and White converted 19 seconds into their first power play on a tic-tac-toe play to take the lead midway through the opening period. New Jersey Devils prospect Chase Stillman finished the scoring play, picking up his 18th goal of the season, as the recipient of assists from J.R. Avon and Tucker Robertson.
🚨 STILLER 🚨
The #NJDevils prospect lights the lamp for the 18th time this season to give us a 1-0 lead!#GoPetesGo | @SUBWAY pic.twitter.com/21lg80VkME
— Peterborough Petes (@PetesOHLhockey) April 2, 2022
Both squads found themselves in penalty trouble early. Bad blood was apparent as players exchanged words and shoves after whistles. Avon nearly scored a short-handed goal speeding in from the Ottawa bench boards killing off a Peterborough penalty. The Petes lead the OHL in short handed goals with 16.
The Petes owned the majority of possession during the first period despite a slight edge in shots favouring Ottawa, 11-10.
Peterborough came out of the first intermission with energy. When the Petes had to defend in their zone, Simpson was there with every stop.
Rookie Dubois took advantage of a scramble in front of the Ottawa net to extend Peterborough’s lead to 2-0 at 6:11 of the middle period. After a blast from bruising blueliner Artem Guryev bounced its way to the slot, Dubois was there to wrist the puck over Ottawa goaltender Max Donoso’s left shoulder. Joe Carroll collected the secondary assist.
2-0 PETES!
Jax Dubois' gorgeous snapshot goes bar down 🤩#GoPetesGo pic.twitter.com/akatSG8Uzq
— Peterborough Petes (@PetesOHLhockey) April 3, 2022
Ottawa responded with a power play goal three and a half minutes later. Jack Beck skated into the right circle and wristed the puck to the top corner with Vinzenz Rohrer set up as the screen.
Rookie LW Will Gerrior evened the score during another Peterborough penalty kill at 13:39. Gerrior’s shot was taken from the right circle and, once again, a screen in front of Simpson impaired the netminder’s ability to see the puck.
After this goal, the Petes started to turn the momentum back in their hands. Robertson scored his 36th goal of the season to push the Lift Lock lads ahead by one goal with less than five minutes to go until the second intermission. He was assisted by Josh Kavanaugh and Avon.
Tucker with the tip 🚨#GoPetesGo | @SUBWAY pic.twitter.com/ke9VqA6d2e
— Peterborough Petes (@PetesOHLhockey) April 3, 2022
Then, coming off his second career OHL hat trick on Thursday night, Carroll outbattled the Ottawa defence to corral a rebound and sneak it behind Donoso with 48 seconds on the clock. That goal marks his 23rd this season. Guryev and Emmett Sproule assisted on the play.
.@joe_carroll19 IS PICKING UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF 🙌🏻#GoPetesGo pic.twitter.com/XeRY4lrNCi
— Peterborough Petes (@PetesOHLhockey) April 3, 2022
The third period seemed like the Petes were going to close this one out in regulation. However, Gerrior tallied another goal to trim Peterborough’s lead to 4-3. Following that, Luca Pinelli banked in a rebound late in the final frame to tie it up 4-4.
The contest entered overtime with the shots 33-31 favouring the Maroon and White.
The Petes threw everything at the Barber Poles, including a seemingly game-winning goal that was called back due to offsides. A shootout was needed for the second time this season between these teams.
Ultimately, Cameron Tolnai scored the game-winning shootout goal to clinch the win for the visitors.
The Petes travel for a Sunday matinee against the Hamilton Bulldogs. Puck drop is at 2:00 pm.
