Petes lose third in a row despite strong road effort
Coach buoyed by strong work ethic shown in Sunday’s 4-1 road loss in Oshawa
The early-season road bump faced by the Peterborough Petes grew a bit bigger Sunday night.
After suffering the first backto-back losses of the young season Thursday and Friday, the Petes, now 8-5-0, lost their third in a row falling 4-1 to the Oshawa Generals at the Tribute Communities Centre.
The scoreboard didn’t reflect the strong road game the Petes played, head coach Rob Wilson said, pointing out how the Generals capitalized on the visitor’s mistakes.
“We just couldn’t get that goal when we needed it,” he said, highlighting his team’s strong work ethic against an opponent regarded as one of the best in the league. “We will win a lot of games this if year if we play that way.”
Brady Heinz had the lone goal for the Petes, assisted by Decland Chisholm and Cole Fraser.
Noel Serron led the way for the Generals with two goals. Cole Resnick - who scored his first in the Ontario Hockey League - and Tyler Tullio had the other Oshawa goals.
Kyle Keyser made 28 saves for the win, while Hunter Jones made 30 saves in the loss.
The first goal, by Oshawa, didn’t come until less than a minute remained in the first period.
Hinz tied the game less than five minutes into the second before Oshawa regained the lead about halfway through the frame with what would be the winning goal.
They added another less than two minutes later. The game remained 3-1 until 16:47 of the third, when Serron netted his second of the game.
The Petes entered the Kia CHL Top 10 rankings at No. 5 just last Wednesday, a day before losing to the same Generals 4-1 on home ice and falling out of first place. With Sunday’s loss, they slipped into fourth place in the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of Hamilton.
The Petes return to action Wednesday in Niagara. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Meridian Centre.
Petes Summary First Period
1-Generals, Serron 8 (Antropov, Studnicka) 19:18
Penalties: Robertson tripping 0:58; Butler blindsiding 11:57; Butler blindsiding (game misconduct) 11:57
Second Period
2-Petes, Hinz 6 (Chisholm, Fraser) 4:14
3-Generals, Tullio 1 (Henderson) 8:53
4-Generals, Resnick 1 (Vallati, Gross) 10:27 Penalties: Hinz cross checking 6:12; Vallati tripping 10:39 Third Period
5-Generals, Serron 9 (Eggenberger) 16:47 Penalties: Studnicka tripping 0:11 Goaltenders: Jones, Petes; Keyser, Generals
Referees: Dave Lewis, Pay Myers. Linesmen: Dylan Rodgers, Mike Harrington.
Attendance: 4,509 at Tribute Communities Centre