Petes up 2-0
Defenceman provides valuable offence at key moment in Petes victory with series shifting to Kingston.
Alex Black has been a rock on the Peterborough Petes’ defence but Sunday night he stepped up offensively at a key moment.
Black’s first goal as a Pete with 30 seconds left in the second period proved the winner in a 4-1 victory over the Kingston Frontenacs. The win, before 3,094 fans at the Memorial Centre, gives Peterborough a 2-0 lead in the OHL Eastern Conference semifinal. The series switches to Kingston Tuesday and Thursday.
The normally conservative Black jumped in off the blue-line to accept Jonathan Ang ’s pass out of the corner and put a shot over goalie Jeremy Helvig’s shoulder. It was one of three assists for Ang who got the puck after Chris Paquette kicked it to him.
“Ang’er made a great pass and I was lucky enough to put it in,” Black said. “It felt great especially in that situation... I’m more of a defensive guy who focuses on defence but there was a big scrum in the corner and I saw all their guys go into the corner to try to win the battle. I snuck down a little bit and saw Ang’er come out with it.”
Black credits a practice routine for helping him score.
“We play rebound after every practice and that’s the only type of practice I get with that opportunity,” he said.
It was a big moment for the Petes who were having trouble solving Helvig.
“They have a great goaltender and a strong defensive system,” said Petes’ assistant coach Jake Grimes. “When you’re doing all the things you want to and you’re not getting the goals for it you make your choice – do you change what you’re doing or keep doing what you’re doing. We just kept with it. We know by now that our strength is pretty tough to hold back for three periods.”
Grimes was happy to see Black rewarded with a goal.
“What a game he had,” said Grimes. “He had so many blocks and good plays and pucks through and then there he is right on the back door. It’s tough to score on this goaltender and Alex was able to get in tight and put one upstairs. That was a super shot in our arm there.”
The Petes made it 3-0 with 5:16 left in the third on a nifty three-way passing play completed by Steve Lorentz from Nikita Korostelev and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev. Kingston broke Dylan Wells’s shutout bid with a power play goal at 17:27 when Ted Nichol redirected Eemeil Rasanen’s point shot. Josh Coyle clinched the win with an empty-net tally.
“After coming off a tough seven game series against Hamilton we knew coming into Peterborough against a fresh team wasn’t going to be easy,” said Jason Robertson, who has assisted on all three Kingston goals in the series. “We might have taken it too lightly the past two games so we’re more focused and looking forward to game three. Some guys need to keep pushing harder and pushing more. It’s a team effort and we just need to find an extra level and push for each other.”
Ironically, the Petes drafted Robertson’s brother Nick with their first-round pick in Saturday’s OHL draft which Jason called “sheer coincidence.
“I was really excited to see my little brother get drafted to Peterborough,” he said. “We’ll see him eight times next year so it will be a little family rivalry.”
It’s the sixth straight win for the Petes in the post-season.
“I think we’ve been playing better in general in the playoffs than we were in the regular season,” Grimes said. “We’re notching up our game more and more.”
After killing Kingston’s first power play of the game the Petes cashed in on their own for a 1-0 lead 9:27 into the game. Helvig stretched to rob Ang but Paquette jammed in the rebound. Wells made 28 saves and Helvig 35.