Wells stops 40 shots
Paquette scores his first hat trick as Petes knock off defending Memorial Cup champions 5-1
WINDSOR – Dylan Wells made a case for an invitation to Canada’s world junior team selection camp on Thursday night.
Facing another national team candidate in Michael DiPietro, Wells turned aside 40 shots as the Petes beat the defending Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires 5-1 before 4,168 fans at the WFCU Centre.
Chris Paquette scored his first OHL hat trick to lift the Petes, who beat DiPietro on five of 17 shots, to their fifth straight win. The Petes also have points in eight straight games and took over sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference. They’ll continue a three-game road trip at 7 p.m. Saturday against the Flint Firebirds and at 5:30 p.m. Sunday against the Saginaw Spirit. The score was deceiving. “Dylan was probably our best player,” said Petes coach Jody Hull. “He stopped pucks when he needed to and that’s what you want from your goalie. It was nice for him to do that against a guy he might be fighting with for an opportunity to play in the world juniors.
“It wasn’t a pretty game. If we play the way we did tonight most games you’re not going to get the victory,” Hull said. “We faced a goalie who maybe wasn’t on the top of his game and our goalie was.”
Wells said facing DiPietro wasn’t something he thought about before the game.
“Going into every game you want to treat it the same and not really focus on things you can’t control,” Wells said. “I went into it just preparing to play my game and worry about stopping the puck. I think I played pretty well and I’m happy with my performance.”
The Petes struck early but it took video replay to confirm the goal. Adam Timleck took a shot that rolled off the shoulder of goalie Michael DiPietro and in behind him and while Logan DeNoble raised his arms to celebrate the puck re-emerged from behind the goalie and play continued for 28 seconds. At the other end, Petes defender Austin Osmanski came dangerously close to putting the puck in his own net before Wells froze it for a whistle. On review the puck was seen to cross the goal line and Timleck was awarded a goal at 38 seconds.
The Spitfires took over the play for the next 10 minutes firing 11 shots at Wells but it was the Petes who scored next. A Zach Gallant pass ricocheted off some skates and Paquette pounced on the loose puck in the high slot at 12:15. The Petes went up 3-0 on six shots at 17:00 when DiPietro stopped Alex Black’s shot but Paquette snuck the rebound between the goalie and post from the side of the net.
“Chris just got back in the lineup (after an injury) last week and he’s had lots of chances and just hadn’t found the back of the net,” said Hull. “Tonight he looked a little more comfortable than he did last week and got a couple of favourable bounces and was able to get on the scorecard.”
Paquette made it a natural hat trick 8:13 into the second period as he took Gallant’s pass and cruised into the Spitfires zone where he ripped a shot over DiPietro’s blocker.
Windsor got on the board with 1:04 left in the second and Nikita Korostelev penalized for slashing. It took six seconds for the Spits’ power play to click as Sean Day moved in off the point to convert Cole Purboo’s cross-ice pass.
Wells held off a Windsor charge early in the third. He stopped quality chances from Day, Kirill Kozhevnikov and Luke Kutkevicius.
Nick Robertson capped the scoring with an empty-net goal giving him nine points in 11 OHL games.
NOTES: With Matt Timms and Cole Fraser returning from injury the Petes had four healthy scratches; Bobby Dow, Chad Denault, Adrien Beraldo and Matt McNamara.... The game’s linesman Tyson Baker played three games for the Petes between 2012-14.... The Petes games in Flint Saturday and Saginaw on Sunday will not be televised. They can be heard on Extra 90.5.