Chiefs force a Game 5
Third-period comeback by Lakers falls short in road loss to the Chiefs
OHSWEKEN -- The third period magic fell a little short for the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers on Tuesday night.
The Lakers outscored the Six Nations Chiefs 5-1 in the third but had dug a little too big a hole falling 11-10 in Game 4 of the MSL final at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena.
Chiefs goalie Dillon Ward made a brilliant desperation stick save off Thomas Hoggarth with 33 seconds left to keep the Lakers from tying it. The Lakers will have to try again at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Memorial Centre to close out the series. They lead the best-of-seven 3-1. The winner will visit the New Westminster Salmonbellies for the Mann Cup series.
Despite their best start to a game, two goals in the opening 1:46, the Lakers trailed 5-4 after 20 minutes and 10-5 after 40 courtesy of two five-goal runs by the Chiefs. The Lakers have outscored the Chiefs 17-3 in the third period of the series.
“Their backs were against the wall and they had a bit of jam early and I don’t know if we matched it,” said Kyle Buchanan, who led the Lakers with five assists. “We got up by two early and maybe sat back a bit and didn’t keep our foot on the pedal.”
“We’re going to build off what we did in the third,” said Lakers defensive coach Bobby Keast. “We also need to be better for a full 60 and we need to be committed to that.”
The Lakers had their quickest start of the series jumping ahead 2-0 in the opening 1:46 but didn’t sustain it. The Chiefs reeled off five straight goals before the Lakers tallied two late in the period.
The Lakers closed the gap to 5-4 on goals by Brad Self who took a Holden Cattoni shot off the boards and beat Ward low. Curtis Dickson quick-sticked a Turner Evans pass with 0.7 seconds left.
The Chiefs dominated the second running off another five straight before a late Lakers goal made it 10-5 after 40 minutes.
Randy Staats opened the second with two identical goals on outside shots at 4:55 and 8:40. Brendan Bomberry cut to the middle to rip a shot past Matt Vinc’s hip. Ryan Benesch slipped behind a check to deposit Dan Dawson’s pass. Jordan Durston flipped a behind-the-back shot past Vinc’s foot. Josh Currier got one back for the Lakers at 18:17 on a long underhand shot.
“They were taking a lot of shots from the top of the floor,” Keast said, “and that’s not where we want them shooting. We have to make those sublet changes which we did in the third. Their defence really packed it in and really made us work. We made some subtle changes and I thought we responded in the third. We were just one goal too short.”
The Lakers third period rally started when Turner Evans found Cattoni coming off the bench and he scored. Cattoni missed a penalty shot with six minutes left in the third. Dickson drew the Lakers within 11-7 with a running side-arm shot at 10:49. Durston scored the eventual winner at 12:08 when he was left alone in front.
Shawn Evans and Jones scored 1:06 apart to cut the deficit to 11-9 with 5:27 left. Cattoni found mesh from outside at 15:39 to create a hectic but scoreless final few minutes.
“Full credit to (Peterborough) they never gave in,” said Chiefs coach Rich Kilgour. “They were in a tough spot down 10-5 and nearly came all the way back. We talk about it all the time you have to play a full 60 minutes.
“We came out and played with a little more jam. A little more emotion but not emotional. When a team with as much talent as we have plays with some jam it’s a really good team. Hopefully it’s a really good lesson. We thought we had been playing hard but tonight we really played hard.”