Wolves, Generals putting some distance on the Petes
Petes have 16 games to turn things around
With 16 games remaining in the OHL regular season, the Petes sit in sixth place in the conference. They are comfortably in the playoffs but have seen any chance of finishing in the top four and gaining home ice in Round 1 evaporate.
The Petes entered the Christmas break with a tidy 19-14 wonloss record but in their play after Christmas, there are some troubling trends.
Since the holiday break, the team has struggled to a record of 6-13. Three of those losses came in overtime or a shootout, so the standings will show them with an overall record of 25-24-1-2. But after winning five more games than they lost in the first half of the season, they are playing at seven games below .500 in the second half.
For the teams the Petes are chasing in the standings, it has been just the opposite. Ottawa and Niagara had a significant lead on the Petes heading into the break and aside from a mini-skid the Ice Dogs are in at the moment, haven’t slowed down.
It seemed for a time that the Petes would have a chance to stay with or even surpass Sudbury or Oshawa, but that is no longer the case. The Wolves have won eight straight games and are looking every bit the part of a team deserving of home ice round one of the playoffs.
The Generals have won 13 of 20 games since the break and while they have struggled against the elite teams such as Ottawa and London, they have consistently beat the teams below them in the standings they are expected to beat, including three wins since Christmas against the Petes.
The head-to-head matches between the Petes and the other top clubs tell a similar story. Before the break, the Petes played to a 6-5 record against the 67’s, IceDogs, Wolves and Generals, defeating each team at least once and not having a losing record against any of the group. Since Christmas, meetings against the same group have been ugly — the Petes have lost all six matchups.
In the 19 games since the break, the Petes have given up an amazing 97 goals, an average of more than five goals per game. In the 33 games before the break, they allowed only 103.
Those numbers make clear that the defensive system that worked so well for the team at the start of the year simply isn’t proving effective anymore.
Maybe the team found something last Thursday night against Ottawa. The Petes outshot, outskated, outplayed the 67’s. They received strong play in goal and their skill players stepped up and took the offence to their opponent, rather than setting up the neutral zone trap and letting the opponents dictate the pace of play to them.
There are 16 games left to turn things around. In the first half of the season, the Petes showed they can beat the teams ahead of them in the standings. They need to get back to where they were before the Christmas break. Thursday’s strong performance against Ottawa was a step in the right direction.