Fronts have come back before
While Petes have been successful in shutting down playoff scoring leader Jason Robertson, Kingston did come back from a 2-0 series deficit in first round
It’s going to be tougher for the Peterborough Petes to get the match-ups they want as their OHL Eastern Conference semifinal shifts to Kingston.
The Petes lead the best-of-seven series 2-0 after a 4-2 win Thursday and 4-1 win on Sunday. The Petes have done a good job of limiting the quality of Kingston’s scoring chances and quieting their top offensive players.
“They’re going to get more opportunities to get match-ups that they want,” said Petes assistant coach Jake Grimes.
“We’ve done a great job on the Robertson line and we’ve matched them with two of our four veteran D every time. They’re going to want to look for mismatches down there. Robertson has been a little bit quiet but when you let him loose, look out. He’s one of the top guys in the playoffs and top guys in the league. It’s not just him, they’ve got some other offence as well that can help them.
“We’ll have to be a bit more creative in our match-ups and some other guys who maybe haven’t had massive responsibilities so far may have to take on more responsibility.”
The Robertson that Grimes refers to is Frontenacs sniper Jason Robertson who leads all OHL playoff scorers with 15 points in nine games. He’s assisted on all three Frontenacs goals in the series. He led Kingston with 42 goals and 81 points this season.
Robertson noted one reason why Kingston should still feel OK despite the series deficit. They trailed the Hamilton Bulldogs 2-0 before winning the next three games and taking the series in seen.
“We know we’ve been down 2-0 in a series before, against Hamilton, so it’s not like we’re out,” Robertson said. “We have tons of belief that we can come back in this series once we go back to the K-Rock Centre. Even though you don’t really want to go down 2-0 in a series it’s not like anyone is going to quit on us. We’re going to keep believing.”
Petes defenceman Matt Spencer, who has been playing the best hockey of his OHL career in recents weeks with a +12 rating in the playoffs and six points in six games, has another way of looking at the precedence set in round one of the playoffs.
“We look at it as we were up 2-0 in the Niagara series and we were able to close that one out in four so that’s our mindset,” Spencer said. “If they want to carry that mindset that’s fine by us because we’re going to work just as hard.”
Spencer says they need to do more of what they did in Game 2 which he felt was an improvement over Game 1.
“The first game we came out really strong and maybe lacked a little bit of compete in the second period but I felt like (Sunday) we were going the entire time apart for the one goal which was my fault because I was in the (penalty) box. The guys deserved better than that.”
Grimes is real happy with his defensive corps so far.
“We’re trying to deal with things without Matthew Timms, one of the top players in the league,” he said. “We have four veteran D and two younger D and the guys are all chipping in. They’ve raised their level significantly and are real fun to work with right now.
“Our number of turnovers is going down and we’re advancing pucks in ways that we want to. Our breakouts are of the best in the league and we’re continuing with that.”
NOTE: There are Petes fan buses to Kingston on Tuesday and Thursday. Tickets are $60, which includes coach bus transportation to and from Kingston, a game ticket and snacks. The bus will depart the Memorial Centre main parking lot at 4 p.m. each day. The games start at 7 p.m. at the Rogers K-Rock Centre. To reserve a spot, contact Julia Tanner at 705-977-0127 or email vjtanner@nexicom.net.