Third straight loss for Petes in Kitchener
KITCHENER – Being the fresher team wasn’t much help to the Peter borough Pete son Sunday night.
The Petes, coming off two days’ rest, suffered their third straight loss, 4-1 to the Kitchener Rangers who were playing their third game in three nights.
The Petes, the highest scoring team in the Eastern Conference, mustered just two goals in three games this week. They have now lost five of their last six games and they’ve lost seven straight on the road going back to an Oct. 19 win in Windsor.
After a dynamite start to these ason which shot the Pet es to the top of their conference, their monthlong slump has dropped them to fifth place. The Rangers, playing before 6,532 partisan fans at the Memorial Auditorium, are one of the OHL’s hottest teams with an 8-0-1 mark in their last nine games.
The Petes scored 72 seconds into the game and didn’ t get much accomplished after that. If not for Dylan Wells, who was sharp stop- ping 36 shots, the score would have been worse.
Petes assistant coach Derrick Walser said the coaches have been waiting for players to step up while they endured a rash of injuries in recent weeks. They’re getting closer to having a full lineup and Walser said the opportunity is slipping away for some to make their mark.
“We gave a lot of guys extra minutes and nobody really proved themselves,” said Walser. “They left things hanging. Now guys will be sitting out again and they missed an opportunity to stay in the lineup. We have to change things and hold guys accountable. That’s the next thing we’re going to have to start doing. If you’re not going to compete, then maybe sitting in the stands will get it out of them because right now we’re not competing at the level we need.”
There is no shame in losing to Kitchener but the Petes’ coaches don’t like the compete-level of their team right now.
“That’s a great hockey team we played tonight with a lot of depth and speed and they’re firing on all cylinders,” said Walser. “The first couple of minutes we were OK. We were banging a little bit. It’s almost like as soon as we had a little adversity we got away from the plan and started struggling. We have to get guys to stick to the same game plan the whole game. Once we get that and get back to the small details we’ll starts coring again. It’s always the small things when you’ re struggling. You want simple plays. Not make things complicated.”
Declan Chisholm’s point shot deflected off a Rangers’ defender past goalie Luke Richardson 1:12 into the game. By the end of the period, though, Kitchener held a 15-8 shots advantage and had tied the game 1-1. Adam Liska redirected Connor Hall’s point shot past Well sat 16:10. Wells made several difficult stop sin the period.
The Petes were fortunate to escape the second period trailing just 2-1 as Wells bailed them out time and again. He robbed Con nor Bunnaman a couple of times including in prime scoring space in front of the net off a rebound.
Kitchen er took the lead with 1:50 left in the period as Riley Damiani deflected Jake Henderson’s shot over Wells’s shoulder.
The Petes were better in the third but their comeback hopes took a hit 21 seconds into the period as Logan Stanley pinched into the high slot to bury a puck that popped loose.
The Petes had a chance to get close rona power play with 5:38 left but Richardson stopped a Nikita Korostelev blast to keep the Petes at bay. Bunnaman scored into an empty-net at 18:34.
NOTES: Adam Tim le ck remained out with an upper body injury but the Pet es are hopeful he can return on Thursday. Cole Fraser served the fifth of a five-game suspension and he’ll return Thursday against Eastern Conference leading Hamilton Bulldogs. Gleb Babintsev was a healthy scratch.