Junior camp returns Ang
Ottawa wins on four unanswered goals; return of Ang could revive Petes
Ottawa 67’s score four unanswered goals for win over Petes; Petes leading scorer rejoining the team.
Peterborough Petes are searching for answers.
Each time they look ready to snap out a funk which started in early November they take a step backwards. Case in point was a 5-2 loss to the Ottawa 67’s Thursday night before 3,166 fans in their final game at the Memorial Centre before Christmas break.
The Petes learned after the game that Jonathan Ang was released by Canada’s national junior team. The Petes hope to have him back for Friday’s visit to the Oshawa Generals. They close out the first half Sunday afternoon in Hamilton.
The 67’s fired four unanswered goals to snap a four-game losing streak and hand the Petes their third straight loss. Ottawa also jumped the Petes by one point for fifth place in the OHL’s Eastern Conference.
“They just wanted it more,” said Petes captain Logan DeNoble, who had the Petes’ first goal to tie the game 1-1 in the second period. “We were aware of where everyone is at in the standings and what this game meant. We were just too easy to play against. We weren’t battling. We weren’t finishing hits or blocking shots. We were trying to be too cute on offence. It was just a frustrating effort.
“It sounds like a bit of a broken record at this point. I don’t know what we’re going to do. We just have to get back at it I guess and control what we can control. That starts in Oshawa (Friday) night with another huge game in the standings.”
The frustration extends to the coaches. Head coach Jody Hull has seen too many of the same mistakes from the same players on things they’ve been shown or talked to about.
“When you have only half of them trying to do the right things and the other half not,” Hull said, “then it doesn’t matter what kind of game plan you come up with, it’s never going to work.”
Without naming names, Hull said it’s the same guys over and over.
“That’s not going to win them any ice-time or help us win any hockey games, he said.
Special teams was a factor. Ottawa was two-for-three on the power play, both in the third, with a short-handed goal. The Petes were one-for-five. Up 2-1, the Petes had three consecutive second period power plays where they could have seized control of the game.
“We had a combined two shots on the three of them or at least it felt that way,” Hull said. “It’s not good enough.”
“This year the power play and penalty kill have really been the difference maker within the league,” said Adam Timleck, who had two assists. “When we get those power plays we really have to capitalize.”
Timleck said they need to come together as a team.
“We’ll come out flying like tonight and be having one hell of a game and then something will happen and it will set us back,” he said. “We don’t seem to recover from it. That’s something within us. We have to work on our chemistry.”
Graeme Clarke broke a 2-2 tie 4:44 into the third and Sasha Chmelevski scored 4:33 later on power plays. Mitchell Hoelscher added an emptynet marker at 19:57.
Ottawa’s Kody Clark wired a shot off the wing past Hunter Jones, making his first career start at the PMC, for a shorthanded tally with 22 seconds left in the first period.
The Petes tied it on a power play when DeNoble redirected Nikita Korostelev’s slap-pass over Olivier Tremblay’s shoulder 8:26 into the second. The Petes went ahead 38 seconds later as Pavel Gogolev ripped Timleck’s pass off the rush blocker side.
Ottawa squared things 2-2 when Quinn Yule followed up on Jack Quinn’s rebound 1:19 later.
NOTES: Petes scratches were Jonathan Ang (world junior camp), Nick Isaacson (upper body), Declan Chisholm (sprained ankle) and Adrien Beraldo (numbers) .... See more on Ang’s return on Page C2.