Petes behind the 8-ball; now down 3-0
Powerful Hamilton Bulldogs use vaunted power play to blast Peterborough, 7-2, at the PMC
A 47.6 per cent power play has the Hamilton Bulldogs one win away from sweeping the Peterborough Petes.
The Bulldogs made the Petes pay for some undisciplined penalties, going five-for-five on the power play Wednesday night in dumping Peterborough, 7-2, before 2,114 fans at the Memorial Centre.
The Bulldogs are 10-for-21 on the power play and the Petes one-for-17 through three games.
Ex-Pete Mason McTavish led the way with a pair of goals and two assists. Peterborough, down 3-0 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, was trying to extend it in Game 4 at 7:05 p.m. Thursday at the PMC.
Petes head coach Rob Wilson said his team was never going to beat a “supertalented” team like Hamilton by sitting back, so their game plan all along has been to take the fight to Hamilton.
It wasn’t in the plans to take so many penalties, but Wilson said he won’t point any fingers.
“There are things that go on in the game and sometimes you make bad decisions on the ice, but I’m not going to point any fingers or put any blame,” said Wilson. “They’re working as hard as they can and they’re giving it everything they’ve got. Sometimes emotions get the best of you when you’re young, but this is why it was so important to get into the playoffs to begin with. You learn from these mistakes.
“I just said to them, ‘We’re not going to lose at home. We’re not giving them this series at home.’ ”
“You saw how we play. I don’t think our team is going to give up whatsoever,” said Petes captain Shawn Spearing.
“I hope they’re counting us out, that it’s a four-game series. I think we’re going to turn it into a long one,” he added.
“Penalties are killing us, obviously. We don’t want to take nine in a game like we have but we’re trying to stick to our physical play and hopefully we can get those kills in the future.”
The Petes failed to capitalize on two first-period power-play opportunities before Hamilton opened the scoring on its first man-advantage at 17:30 after J.R. Avon took a slashing penalty that ended a Peterborough power play. McTavish showed off his lethal shot, ripping a it far side on goalie Michael Simpson.
Quinton Page took a roughing penalty while lined up for a faceoff early in the second period and it led to Hamilton’s second goal. Avery Hayes cashed in Nathan Staios’s rebound after Simpson stopped the original point shot.
The nastiness of Game 2 returned when Joe Carroll dropped the mitts with Hamilton behemoth Arber Xhekaj. As he skated to the penalty box, Xhekaj put his finger to his mouth as if to silence the Petes’ bench.
Tucker Robertson got Peterborough back in the game soon after, circling around a crowd in front of Hamilton goalie Marco Costantini before snapping a shot home at 6:31.
On the next shift, Colton Kammerer touched off a melee with a hit on Brian Zanetti at the Petes bench. It led to one fight and two other wrestling matches.
Just as Peterborough was getting a little momentum, Artem Guryev took an interference penalty and McTavish scored, one-timing Staios’s pass top shelf at 11:59.
Chase Stillman took a four-minute high-sticking penalty late in the second, which led to the fourth power-play goal 3:34 into the third. Ryan Winterton finished off a Hayes feed.
Giordano Biondi slipped an evenstrength shot between Simpson’s legs for a 5-1 lead at 5:45.
Sam Alfano scored his first OHL playoff goal, banging in a bouncing puck in a scramble 1:24 later.
Logan Morrison added his sixth goal of the series and Hayes his second power-play tally of the night to round out the scoring.