Lakers take 3-2 series lead
Adam Jones scores pair in defensive battle with Brooklin
A sense of urgency propelled the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers to a lead in their MSL semifinal on Monday night.
Adam Jones scored two third period goals including an insurance marker and the Lakers never trailed in a 7-5 win over the Brooklin Redmen in yet another tight, defensive battle between the rivals.
The Lakers will attempt to finish off Brooklin in Game 6 in Whitby on Wednesday night. If necessary, Game 7 is 8 p.m. Thursday at the PMC.
For the first time in the series the Lakers scored first as Curtis Dickson deposited a Shawn Evans rebound past goalie Mike Poulin at 4:28.
“We’ve had some slow starts and not been ready to go right off the bat,” said Dickson. “Tonight, we came out off the first whistle playing hard. We had a lot of good chances.
“Offensively, even though we only scored seven goals, it was one of our better performances of the series,” said Dickson, who along with Jones and Holden Cattoni scored two goals. Evans had five assists. “We moved the ball well and got Poulin moving in the net. Obviously, he played well, he’s played well all series, but we buried the chances we needed to.”
It was perhaps the first game where Poulin wasn’t the best goaltender on the night. Evan Kirk was heroic at times for the Lakers.
“Kirky played unbelievable,” said Dickson.
Lakers’ coach Mike Hasen said his team played with purpose. “We played with a hop in our step tonight,” said Hasen. “We wanted to start out on the right foot and to get that first one kind of solidified we were doing the right things.”
The Lakers built the lead to 2-0 at 7:34 when Cattoni faked a shot then drove the net to bury a shot.
Brooklin got one back seven seconds later as Graeme Hossack scored from Matt Hossack right off the draw. Dan Lintner sent the teams to the dressing room tied 2-2 when he got up off the floor to deposit Ryan Keenan’s pass with nine seconds left in the period.
Cattoni’s power play goal 6:30 into the second put the Lakers in front but Curtis Knight tied it on an outside shot 1:31 later. The Lakers took a 4-3 lead to the second intermission as Evans set up Dickson with a goalmouth pass.
Jones struck on a long shot on the power play 6:12 into the third period to give the Lakers their first two-goal lead since early in the first period. Kyle Buchanan bounced a shot past Poulin 1:51 later to make it 6-3.
Two goals 22 seconds apart drew Brooklin within 6-5 as Lintner finished a give-and-go play and Reilly O’Connor scored with six minutes left. Jones ripped an overhand shot by Poulin 1:12 later to make it 7-5.
“We didn’t score on our power play and that was probably the difference,” said Redmen coach Derek Keenan. “We had some opportunities and we have to be better. Other than that I thought it was a pretty even game. If we execute a little better on our power play and create a little more shooting lane opportunities I think it probably goes the other way. They had a couple (power play goals) and that’s all you need in a game that is that tight. We were pretty good five-on-five and ran the floor pretty hard.”