Petes fight hard for a point
Matt Timms’ first goal of the season was huge, scoring with 5.5 seconds left to tie game as Petes lose in OT to Knights.
LONDON – Given the circumstances the Peterborough Petes were satisfied to get a point on Friday night.
While they lost to the London Knights on Evan Bouchard’s goal 50 seconds into overtime they were 5.5 seconds away from not getting anything.
Matt Timms put a point shot past a screened Joseph Raaymakers, with goalie Dylan Wells pulled for an extra attacker, to force overtime at 19:54.5 of the third period. The 8,902 fans at Budweiser Gardens got their happy ending when Bouchard drilled Cliff Pu’s pass far-side on Wells in the extra period.
Three times the Petes battled back from one-goal deficits a night after rallying from a 4-2 deficit to a 5-4 overtime win against the Sudbury Wolves.
“We showed a little bit of resilience again,” said Petes head coach Jody Hull. “We just couldn’t get it done in overtime. It’s not an easy building to win hockey games in. The fact we battled back from being down a goal on three different occasions we can use to our advantage as we head into Sarnia (Saturday night).”
Hull liked his team’s energy and compete in the third period against Sudbury after he let them know in the second intermission he wasn’t happy with their effort. When asked if he felt his team carried that third period energy into London, Hull replied: “For the most part it was there. With the quick turnaround and the travel today you only saw it a little bit early but I thought we had it in the second and for sure in the third.”
Timms entered the game with 18 assists but no goals and said he began to wonder when he’d score when Raaymakers stopped a point blank chance earlier in the game.
“Sure enough with 5.5 seconds left a not so great shot went in but it’s nice to get the monkey off my back,” Timms said. “It was nice to be able to push that game into OT. It was a team effort. I think we deserved to win.”
Timms blamed himself on the overtime goal as Pu picked off his clearing attempt.
“That was definitely my fault and I’ll take the blame on that one but the boys battled hard and never gave up. We left it all out there on the ice,” he said.
The Knights had the lone goal of the first period as Alec Regulas snuck in off the point to bury a pass to the backdoor from Robert Thomas at 16:20. The Petes levelled the score with a shorthanded tally 9:26 into the second period. Thomas tried a pass in his own zone straight up the middle but Petes captain Logan DeNoble picked it off, took three strides and hammer a shot past Raaymakers.
Anaheim Ducks first-round pick Max Jones was awarded
a penalty shot at 15:00 when Bouchard sent him in alone and Petes defender Gleb Babintsev took his feet out from under him. Jones put London up 2-1 when he deked Wells by moving the puck to his backhand then pulling it back to his forehand to tuck it in. Moments later Petes rookie Chad Denault came close to scoring his first OHL goal but was foiled by
Raaymakers on a breakaway.
The Petes tied it on a power play at 5:12 when Pavel Gogolev threaded a pass to the far post where Zach Gallant banged it in.
London went up 3-2 on a power play when Thomas bunted a rebound that flipped up off Wells’s pads over the fallen goalie at 9:04.
NOTES: Declan Chisholm
was diagnosed with a high ankle sprain suffered when he was knocked into the boards Thursday against Sudbury. He is unlikely to play until after the Christmas break. Also scratched Friday were Nick Robertson, Bobby Dow and Nick Isaacson, all with injuries. All three are considered day-to-day.