Petes Remain Undefeated Against IceDogs
The Peterborough Petes registered two goals in the third period to seal a 4-2 win over the Niagara IceDogs at the Peterborough Memorial Centre. The Petes are three for three facing Niagara this season. Samuel Mayer, Tucker Robertson, Nick Lardis, and Chase Stillman led the scoring.
The Lift Lock lads jumped out with an early attack on Niagara netminder Josh Rosenzweig. The Toronto native was able to repel Peterborough’s efforts for most of the first 20 minutes.
With less than three minutes remaining in the first period, Lardis wheeled near the blue line and found Mayer cutting into the zone across the ice. Mayer received the pass and whipped the puck top shelf to get the Petes on the board 1-0 heading into the first intermission. It was Mayer’s second goal in four games, extending his current point streak to as many games.
Whatta snipe from @Samuel6Mayer 😮💨#GoPetesGo | @SUBWAY pic.twitter.com/qh4fl8krX9
— Peterborough Petes (@PetesOHLhockey) March 4, 2022
The second period opened with a pair of minor penalties. Peterborough’s power play was stifled despite generating a couple of really good chances. The IceDogs then went on the power play. A couple of quality chances end to end soon followed. Robertson stole the puck in the Niagara zone, making it look like he would deke the puck wide and shoot above the shoulder before Rosenzweig’s poke check forced the puck out and the IceDogs sped down the ice, delivering it into Michael Simpson’s glove.
The Petes and IceDogs continued to go back and forth. This time, Simpson had to withstand an impressive Niagara assault. Offsetting minors led to four-on-four hockey and more open ice. Niagara’s Aidan Castle slipped into the Peterborough zone uncovered on a breakaway to outmaneuver Simpson and even the score at 1-1. The goal was Castle’s 11th goal in 47 games.
“Mr. Thursday Night” Robertson entered the building tonight destined to show off that moniker. With another short-handed opportunity, Robertson displayed patience and smooth hands. He pulled Rosenzweig far enough out of the net and, instead of attempting a wraparound, decided to tuck, no pun intended, the puck in around the post.
???? Tucker Robertson
↘️
???? highlight-reel goals
↘️
???? things we love to see#GoPetesGo pic.twitter.com/MK75beUlny— Peterborough Petes (@PetesOHLhockey) March 4, 2022
The Petes and IceDogs closed 40 minutes with the score at 2-1 in favour of Peterborough and shots 21-20 in favour of Niagara.
The third period saw the physical play increase. Following a rare sequence of minor roughing calls, the Petes briefly held a 4-on-3 man advantage. The Maroon and White maintained the puck possession it needed to build momentum toward a Lardis tip-in goal.
Lardis corralled the puck from a corner boards scrum and slid it to Brian Zanetti at the blue line. Zanetti floated it toward Rosenzweig where Lardis deflected it past the Niagara netminder for his 15th tally of the season. Stillman added an insurance marker four minutes later to make the score 4-1.
OUR JAWS ARE STILL OPEN 🤯🚨@NJDevils prospect @chasestillman61's 17th goal of the season is absolutely magical to watch 🪄#GoPetesGo | #NJDevils pic.twitter.com/18GCDC4GUN
— Peterborough Petes (@PetesOHLhockey) March 4, 2022
Niagara refused to go quietly.
Rookie Lucas Littlejohn connected with fellow rookies Ilia Chmelevski and Ryan Struthers to trim the deficit. Littlejohn’s goal came at 18:52 of the period. It was his third goal in his fourth game.
Simpson ended the night with 28 saves on 30 shots faced to pick up his 11th win of the season.
The Petes will travel to Niagara tomorrow to face the same IceDogs before returning to the PMC to face the Oshawa Generals on Saturday night.
