Hot streak doused in Michigan
SAGINAW, MI – Michigan proved an inhospitable place for the Peterborough Petes on the weekend.
The Petes crossed the border riding a five-game winning streak with points in eight straight games. They returned to Canada having lost backto-back games for the first time this season.
The Flint Firebirds humbled the Petes 7-3 on Saturday night and the Saginaw Spirit squeezed past Peterborough 3-2 Sunday before just 1,883 fans at the Dow Event Center.
The Petes end the weekend in a three-way tie atop the OHL’s Eastern Conference with the Barrie Colts, who hold a game in hand, and Ottawa 67’s who have played one more game than Peterborough.
“It was disappointing to say the least,” said Petes’ head coach Jody Hull. “I don’t think we were a very good hockey club in Flint last night and today we generated some good opportunities but couldn’t find the back of the net. There were times we were a bit careless with the puck and it ended up in the back of our net.”
The Petes twice led Saginaw by a goal but Cole Coskey’s second of the game 7:48 into the third gave Saginaw the only lead they needed. It was a tough break for Petes’ rookie goalie Hunter Jones who suffered his first loss in three OHL starts. A Spirit shot hit defender Gleb Babintsev’s glove and deflected to Coskey with Jones having little chance to react in time.
Semyon Der-Arguchintsev and Logan DeNoble, with his third goal in two games, scored for the Petes. Der-Arguchintsev on the edge of the crease lifted a puck over goalie Evan Cormier for a 1-0 lead. DeNoble redirected Nikita Korostelev’s shot with the shaft of his stick to make it 2-1 in the second. Blade Jenkins tied the game. In an odd statistic, the Petes have lost all five games when tied after the first period but won the other eight when leading or behind after one.
Hull thought some of his players were trying to do too much.
“That’s when you get yourself in trouble and that kind of summed up how the weekend was,” he said. “It’s definitely not the end of the world but we have to get going in the other direction here. Some of our guys can be a little bit better. If we’re trying to be too cute, it’s never going to work so we just have to eliminate some of that stuff.”
In Flint, trailing 3-1 after 40 minutes, DeNoble twice draw his team within a goal at 3-2 and 4-3 before Flint fired three unanswered goals.
Zach Gallant had the other Petes’ goal while Dylan Wells took the loss with both teams recording 31 shots. Ryan Moore led Flint with a goal and two assists while former Peterborough minor hockey player Max Kislinger, Nicolas Caamano and Maurizio Colella had a goal and assist each. Marcus Gretz, Ty Dellandrea and Ethan Keppen also scored. Garrett Forrest recorded the win.
“I don’t think we were playing up to our ability and maybe played down to our opponents,” said Matt Timms, who returned Friday after missing nine games with a broken foot. “There wasn’t much attention to detail and, obviously, some turnovers and breakdowns killed us.”
Timms acknowledged some bag habits creeped into a 5-1 win Friday in Windsor that carried over.
“We maybe didn’t deserve to win that game but have a good goaltender helps,” Timms said. “We’ll take the two points from that game but, obviously, we have to fix some stuff because we can’t be coming out of a weekend with only two out of six points.”
Saginaw makes its lone trip to Peterborough on Thursday giving the Petes a chance for revenge.
“We should be a pretty hungry hockey club come Thursday,” said Hull.