Petes leash Bulldogs, 8-3
Special teams made six goals in win over Hamilton Sunday at the Memorial centre
Peterborough Petes believe depth is their strength this year and they relied on it Sunday.
They also relied on special teams which accounted for six goals in an 8-3 blowout of the Hamilton Bulldogs before 2,857 fans at the Memorial Centre.
It was a solid rebound from a disappointing effort in a 4-1 loss to the Oshawa Generals Friday. It gave the Petes four of six points on the weekend to move them back atop the OHL’s Eastern Conference.
The Petes started the game missing forwards Pavel Gogolev (suspension), Nick Robertson (injury) and defenceman Cole Fraser who was sat for being late to a team meeting, said Petes GM Mike Oke. In the first period the Petes lost Zach Gallant, seen with his arm in a sling after the game, and Nick Isaacson, who hurt his arm, on the same shift. Both are penalty killers and the game featured plenty of penalties with the teams combining for 15 power plays. The Petes struck five times on the manadvantage and once short-handed. Hamilton had two power play tallies and one short-handed.
Semyon Der-Arguchintsev broke out with two goals and an assist, Logan DeNoble had identical numbers becoming the first Pete to 10 goals. Nikita Korostelev had four assists and Matt Timms three.
“As with most teams when you don’t play a very good game the next game is usually a different scenario and it was today,” said Petes head coach Jody Hull. “I liked the fact we bounced back and it wasn’t just one or two guys leading the way it was the entire team. We lost a couple of guys early and some others had to step up and were put in positions they normally wouldn’t be in. It’s funny because Nikita Korostelev went out for his first penalty kill in the OHL today. That’s guys stepping up and doing what it takes.”
After as low start, Der-Arguchints ev has picked up his production. He got the Petes on the board 1:35 into the game. His goal 5:27 into the second put the Petes up 4-2 and proved to be the winner. As the trailer he ripped Korostelev’s drop pass by Kaden Fulcher. Dylan Wells made 34 saves for the win.
“He’s been better the last couple of weeks,” Hull said, of DerArguchintsev. “I know he wasn’t happy with his game and neither were we in the first little stretch. He’s been in watching video trying to see areas where he can improve. He’s getting a little bit more compete-level in the faceoff circle and a little bit smarter in the defensive zone. We know what his offensive abilities are.”
“It was a slow start for me,” DerArguchintsev said. “I still had to keep working hard and not think about it and the points were going to come ... I still have to work on a lot of things. I still have to get better defensively but it was a good game for me.”
Despite being outshot 15-6 in the first period Hamilton hung with the Petes at 2-2. Marian Studenic scored short-handed and Mathew Strome on a power play late in the period. Arthur Kallyev also scored on a power play to make it 4-3 in the second before the Petes fired four unanswered goals. DeNoble scored backto-back power play markers. Chris Paquette, Jonathan Ang and Adam Timleck had power play goals and Bobby Dow a short-handed marker finishing a two-on-one feed from DeNoble.
Petes defender Austin Osmanski said the team talked Saturday about needing to be better than Friday.
“You can’t be perfect every night but you can at least put in an effort to be as good as you can every night,” said Osmanski. “The attitude yesterday and today is we knew we needed a statement game and I thought we did that. We weren’t hard on ourselves but we held each other accountable. From the second we walked into the rink today until now everyone was focused on being in first place.”