Petes lose in double overtime
Peterborough trails conference final 3-0 after heartbreaking loss
MISSISSAUGA – The Peterborough Petes have a mountain to climb.
Michael McLeod’s goal 10:29 into double-overtime gave the Mississauga Steelheads a 2-1 win before 2,507 fans at the Hershey Centre Monday night pushing the Petes to the brink of elimination.
Dylan Wells, who was the Petes best player with 53 saves, tried to clear a puck that was kept in by the Steelhead and Ryan McLeod set up his brother Michael for the winner.
Nikita Korostelev scored for the Petes 2:03 into the game and Spencer Watson for Mississauga 28 seconds into the second before the teams settled into scoreless hockey for 70 minutes..
The Steelheads lead the best-ofseven OHL Eastern Conference final 3-0. Game 4 is 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Hershey Centre. The Pets will try to force a Game 5 back at the Memorial Centre on Thursday.
“It’s unfortunate that one went in,” said Wells. “I kind of fanned on my clearing attempt and they got the puck. It is what is. We’ll bounce back next game.”
Petes’ coach Jody Hull thought his team was much better than in Game 2.
“We played harder as a group,” said Hull. “We challenged our players a little bit that we needed to be better as a team. I thought we were. Our battle level was there and it’s just unfortunate someone had to lose.
“I can go back three years ago to being down 0-3 to Kingston,” said Hull. “It’s an old cliche but you take it one shift at a time, one period at a time, one game at a time. I know there is no quit in our hockey team.”
The Petes started with some good energy and turned that into the game’s opening goal at 2:03 as Korostelev followed up on his own rebound to jam it past Matt Mancina.
Zach Gallant missed a glorious chance in front to put the Petes up by two before a couple of Peterborough penalties gave Mississauga some life. Wells, who made 49 save in Game 2, was again sharp stopping several quality chances to help the Petes hold through lead through the opening 20 minutes. His toughest stop came off a deflected point shot while killing a penalty.
The Steelheads struck 28 seconds into the second period as their top line played tic-tac-toe with the puck. Spencer Watson, with his 14th goal in 14 playoff games, completed the play from the McLeod brothers Michael and Ryan.
The period was tight checking with the teams combining for just 10 shots, only three to the Petes, as they headed to the third tied.
Mississauga celebrated like they’d taken the lead with 3:47 left in the third period. Shaw Boomhower, from the side of the net, kept whacking at a puck at the side of the net as Wells tried to cover it up and it hit the goalie’s trapper and went in the net. After a video review it was determined the whistle had gone to stop the play before the puck entered the net.
The Steelheads outshot the Petes 14-7 in the first overtime period and that doesn’t include Peterborough native Owen Tippett ringing two shots off the crossbar. Wells was excellent stopping Michael McLeod point blank midway through the period. Steve Lorentz had the Petes best chance on a shot that laid in the crease after nearly going through Matt Mancina’s pads but no one could corral the loose puck. Korostelev had a glorious chance in the slot set up by Lorentz and Mancina foiled him on the Petes’ best overtime opportunity.