Petes move ahead of Gens
Steve Lorentz scores winning goal in third period in 3-1 win over Kingston Frontenacs
Peterborough Petes coaches have been asking for a full 60-minute effort and Thursday night they got one.
The Petes held an edge every period even if it took two late Steve Lorentz goals to clinch a 3-1 victory over the Kingston Frontenacs at the Memorial Centre.
Lorentz had the winning goal with 8:09 left and an empty-net insurance tally to push the Petes into sole possession of first place in the OHL’s Eastern Conference. They’re two points ahead of the Oshawa Generals who hold one game in hand. The teams meet Sunday in Oshawa.
Lorentz’s go-ahead goal came directly off a faceoff won by Chris Paquette to the left of Kingston goalie Jeremy Helvig. Lorentz put a shot through a crowd. Helvig’s 42 saves kept Kingston in it.
Paquette wasn’t on Lorentz’s line but was put out for offensive zone faceoffs in the third.
“We tried the draw two times actually,” Lorentz said, “and we got the same faceoff there again. (Paquette) did a great job winning the draw two out of three times and the last one I just whacked at it and it went through a few bodies and was fortunate enough to find the back of the net.”
Petes assistant coach Andrew Verner said every game against Kingston has been tight.
“It was a much better performance for us versus that team,” Verner said. “Usually in the first 20 or 30 minutes their aggressiveness and work ethic tends to overwhelm us at times but I didn’t feel that way at all tonight.”
The Petes played without Nikita Korostelev who suffered a lower body injury in practice Wednesday. They initially expected their top scorer to miss a couple of weeks.
“He really looked pretty good today, a lot better than the day before,” Verner said. “He’s going to get up to Toronto and see (the Maple Leafs) doctor. We’re hopeful it will be sooner rather than later for Nikita.”
It meant different lines and opportunities for guys like Adam Timleck who slid into Korostelev’s spot. He opened the scoring 2:56 into the game with Kingston’s Cody Caron in the penalty box. Jonathan Ang fought to keep the puck along the boards and threaded a pass to Timleck who spun to lift a backhand over Helvig’s glove.
“It’s probably my first backhand goal I’ve ever scored,” said Timleck. “Losing a guy like Korostelev is a huge loss. He’s put up big numbers since he’s been here and is an unbelievable player. We have a lot of young guys who can step up and fill a pretty big role. I think we did that tonight.”
Caron made up for is penalty tying the game with 1:56 left in the first period and Matt Spencer serving a four-minute high sticking penalty. Caron crashed the net to deflect Nathan Dunkley’s shot past Dylan Wells. It was the only one of 26 shots to elude Wells.
The second period was scoreless with the Petes outshooting Kingston 18-8. Cole Fraser got a shot behind Helvig but not across the goal line.
“We had four or five pucks lying behind him,” Verner said. “The line of Josh Coyle, Matyas Svoboda and Cole Fraser had a lot of those chances. They didn’t score but they were on the ice for a lot of those chances where pucks actually got behind Helvig on the goal line.
“They were a very good line for us and Wellsy was solid.”
Petes captain Brandon Prophet played his 300th OHL game.
“Coming down to the final 11 games all the points we can get, we’re obviously in a race with Oshawa, matter,” Prophet said. “It was an exciting night for me to play 300. It goes by pretty quick. There is nowhere else I’d rather be for the rest of my games.”