Petes tie up series with Game 2 win
The third period was the key with a three-goal rally
In a game of wild swings in fortune, the Peterborough Petes found a way to a win that seemed to be getting away from them.
The Petes fired three unanswered third-period goals to rally past the London Knights, 5-3, tying their OHL Championship Series 1-1 on Saturday night. It was the Knights’ first loss at home in the playoffs, snapping a nine-game winning streak before 9,046 Budweiser Gardens faithful.
Despite allowing a goal from centre ice which tied the game 2-2 in the second period, Petes goalie and London native Michael Simpson was the main reason they pulled out the victory, as the Knights outshot the Petes, 54-27.
London grabbed a 3-2 lead on a five-on-three advantage with Owen Beck ejected for a checking to the head major penalty which will be reviewed for a potential suspension.
Limiting London to one goal on the five-minute power play left the door open for the comeback.
Donovan McCoy kept a puck in at the blue line and got off a quick shot under rookie goalie Zach Bowen, tying it 8:14 into the third.
Simpson made a big save and the Petes turned the puck up ice with Avery Hayes springing Tucker Robertson on a breakaway where he slipped the puck through Bowen’s legs on a deke 1:58 later for a sudden Peterborough lead.
Robertson then repaid Hayes, giving him a pass as two Knights fell to create an open lane where he snapped a shot high for a 5-3 margin. It was the second goals of the game for both Robertson and Hayes.
“It was maybe one of our gutsiest third periods of the season,” said Petes head coach Rob Wilson. “We had a real serious talk between the second and third. I thought we should have done better, but they really came out in the third period.”
Simpson parked the bad goal to give his team a chance to win.
“I don’t think you ever want to let in a goal like that,” said Simpson. “I’ve always been pretty good at bouncing back. It tells a lot about my mental game. I spend a lot of time with Brenley Shapiro, our mental performance coach, and I think in those situations you can either rise up to it or crumble. I thought I did a good job of bouncing back.”
“Their goalie played well,” said Knights head coach Dale Hunter. “He’s a good goalie and he had a good game.
“We had a lot of looks, but sometimes a goalie gets hot in a game just like the game before when Bowen had a shutout.”
The series moves to the Peterborough Memorial Centre for Game 3 on Monday at 7 p.m. and Game 4 on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. TSN will take over television coverage of the remainder of the series.
Coming off a 24-save 3-0 shutout in Game 1, Bowen helped the Knights make it through the Petes’ first power play with a quick reaction glove save off Brennan Othmann.
The Petes solved Bowen for the first time in the series 7:55 into the game.
London defender Oliver Bonk mishandled the puck in the neutral zone and Othmann scooped it and fed Robertson for a two-on-one break and he kept the puck and fired it high glove side.
It was London dictating the pace, outshooting the Petes 14-7 in the first period with Simpson getting just enough of a Sean McGurn shot to preserve the lead.
The teams traded glorious chances early in the second.
Chase Stillman drove down the wing and cut to the net, getting off a shot Bowen got a pad on. The play turned up ice into an odd-man rush and Simpson came up big to turn Easton Cowan away.
London tied it 6:38 into the second when the Knights recovered a loose puck and got it to the point where defender Sam Dickinson stepped into it to beat Simpson.
The Petes dodged a bullet when Ryan Humphrey picked off a pass and went in alone only to hit the goalpost.
The Petes went ahead on a controversial five-on-three power play. Already on the power play, McGurn was taken down on a short-handed break with no penalty call and was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after voicing his displeasure to referee Sean Reid.
Hayes one-timed Robertson’s pass 21 seconds later for a 2-1 lead.
The game turned on a dime with two significant developments.
McGurn got his payback 1:52 later, coming out of the penalty box to beat Simpson with a shot from centre ice that went glove side.
Then, with Hayes serving a penalty, Beck was ejected for a five-minute checking-to-the-head penalty on Denver Barkey.
Logan Mailloux put London ahead with a point shot that deflected past Simpson 1:28 into the major penalty. Ryan Winterton assisted to move into the playoff scoring lead with 25 points.
The Petes were perhaps fortunate to get out of the period down just one with shots 32-19 for London. Notes Petes captain Shawn Spearing joined his teammates in London prior to Game 2 to warm up after having surgery Thursday to repair a broken jaw. None of Spearing, Jonathan Melee (broken bone in his heel) or Tommy Purdeller (broken fibula, high ankle sprain) have resumed skating … Cam Gauvreau served the last of a four-game checking-from-behind ban Saturday and will rejoin the Petes’ lineup on Monday. The Petes continued to go one skater short in his absence … This is the fifth playoff meeting between the Petes and Knights. The clubs’ first three series were back in the days of eight-point series with the Petes winning 8-4 in 1969 and London winning 8-4 in 1970 in the first round. In a second-round meeting in 1973, the Petes won 9-5. They wouldn’t meet again for 33 years, when the Petes swept the Knights 4-0 in the 2006 OHL final.