Jones backstops Petes to a win over 67’s
Robertson, Chisholm extend their points streaks as Petes play first of two games without SDA
OTTAWA — The Peterborough Petes weren’t at their best but Hunter Jones had their back Friday night.
Jones made 34 saves, and was 88 seconds from a shutout, to backstop the Petes to their second win at Ottawa’s TD Place beating the 67’s 3-1.
Liam Kirk, Cameron Butler and Max Grondin provided the offence as the Petes improved to 8-3 and moved four points ahead of Ottawa (6-3-0).
A night after winning their home opener 4-3 over the Hamilton Bulldogs on Thursday, the Petes returned to the road where they played their first nine games of the season. They will also visit the first place Oshawa Generals on Sunday at 6 p.m., meaning 11 of their first 12 games are away from home. They’ll play 33 of their final 56 games at home.
Kirk surprised Cedric Andree with a shot from the corner that banked in off the 67’s netminder with 14 seconds left in the first period. Declan Chisholm picked up an assist extending his points streak to 10 games.
Jones, making his ninth start of the season and second in as many nights, whipped out his glove to rob Austen Keating in the opening minutes of the second period.
The Petes went up by two at 4:16 when Butler one-timed Mason McTavish’s pass for his fourth goal of the season.
The 67’s poured on the pressure in the second period outshooting the Petes 19-3 but they couldn’t find the back of the net. The Petes were under siege in the final minute of the second when a Noel Hoefenmayer point shot got deflected off the post and Jack Quinn missed an open net with Jones, who was mostly stellar, at his mercy.
After all that pressure it took Ottawa half a period to register
their first shot of the third when Jones was called on to make a tough save off Cameron Tolnai. He also made a quick pad save as Keating got a shot off on a partial breakaway with eight minutes left.
Keating broke Jones’ shutout bid with 1:28 left, deflecting a
shot with Andree pulled for an extra attacker.
Grondin scored into an empty net at 19:01. Robertson had an assist to extend his points streak to 11 games. NOTES: Semyon Der-Arguchintsev sat out the first game of a two-game suspension for
getting involved in a second fight at the conclusion of Thursday’s 4-3 home opener win against Hamilton. His combatant, Tag Bertuzzi, was also suspended for two games …
Matt McNamara also missed Friday’s game with a lower body strain sustained late in Thursday’s game, said head coach Rob Wilson. Artem Guryev
returned to action to replace McNamara and Keegan
McMullen took Der-Arguchintsev’s spot… The Petes announced on Friday they have reassigned Peterborough native Curtis Trolley to the OJHL’s Lindsay Muskies. With 22 skaters the Petes were having trouble getting Trolley playing time. Also scratched Friday was Dustin Hutton … The Ottawa 67’s have lost forward
Graeme Clarke for an estimated four months to shoulder surgery. Merrick Rippon was also sidelined with a lower body injury … Three stars were 1. Hunter Jones (P); 2. Liam Kirk (P); 3. Cameron Butler (P).