Nothing left to chance
A pass from Ryan Mantha on Niagara’s first opportunity with the man advantage found its mark in convincing fashion as Kirill Maksimov’s deflection tied the game at one-all heading into the first intermission.
Niagara went up 3-1 on evenstrength goals from Ondrej Machala, who skated in front the left faceoff circle and beat Dylan Wells stick side, and Mantha, pulling the trigger at the middle of the left faceoff circle on a bullet that beat Wells on his glove side, before Steven Lorentz scored on the power play to cut the lead to one.
With 27 seconds remaining in the second period, Lorentz made it a 3-3 game going into the break.
Both goaltenders left nothing to chance as the game went on, preferring to smother the puck rather than surrender rebounds that could come back to haunt them.
Defencemen likewise stayed close to home creating gridlock in shooting lanes and, more often that, forcing dump-ins behind the net or shots to go wide.
A hooking call put Petes captain Brandon Prophet into the penalty box with 1:54 remaining in regulation, but a stingy Peterborough defence limited the IceDogs to two shots on the power play.
The drama could have ended earlier in Peterborough’s favour but the puck bounced out, not in, after
Petes IceDogs 4 3 OT
Postmedia Network stars of the game: Niagara defenceman Ryan Mantha, with a goal and an assist; Niagara goaltender Stephen Dhillon, with 46 saves. Scoring for Peterborough Petes: regulation, Jonathan Ing (3) PP, Steven Lorentz (3) PP, Steven Lorentz (4); overtime, Josh Coyle (2). Scoring for Niagara IceDogs: regulation, Kirill Maksimov (3) PP, Ondrej Machala (1), Ryan Mantha (2) Goaltending, shots-saves: Peterborough, Dylan Wells, 43-39; Niagara, Stephen Dhillon, 50-46. Power play, goals-chances: Peterborough, 2-2; Niagara, 1-4. Penalties, in minutes: Peterborough, 17; Niagara, 13. Attendance at Meridian Centre: 4,990. Next game in series: Thursday at St. Catharines, 7 p.m. the Petes hit a goalpost.
Josh Coyle completed the comeback for the Petes finding the back of the net after finding the puck in traffic in front of the IceDogs crease. This is the first time the IceDogs have faced Peterborough in the playoffs since relocating to St. Catharines from Mississauga 10 years ago … IceDogs defenceman Willie Lochead was in the lineup for the first time since suffering a concussion in a Feb. 26 road game against the Ottawa 67’s … Peterborough has six NHL draft picks, including goaltender and St. Catharines native Dylan Wells, selected in the fifth round, 123rd overall, by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft … There are six NHL draft picks in the Petes … A minute of silence was observed before the game for seven-year-old murder victim Nathan Dumas of St. Catharines … Last night’s game was broadcast nationally by Sportsnet … Performing the national anthem was the choir from College Street Public School in Smithville, while the drum line band from Notre Dame College School from Welland entertained during breaks in the action … A St. Catharines double A bantam team that went 17-1 in the playoffs to win an Ontario Minor Hockey Association championship took a bow at centre ice before the opening faceoff. They will be competing at the Ontario Hockey Federation finals April 6-9 in Timmins … Welland native and ECHL Hall of Famer Vitucci was at the game scouting for the New Jersey Devils.