Peterborough Petes, Otters go back and forth in Erie

The Peterborough Petes could do no better than a split against the OHL’s two worst teams on the weekend.

After thumping the last-place Niagara IceDogs 6-0 in St. Catharines on Friday night the Petes fell 5-3 to the 19th place Erie Otters on Saturday at Erie Insurance Arena.

After winning four straight the Petes were perhaps unlucky to lose 2-0 to the Saginaw Sprit after firing 59 shots on goalie Tristan Lennox on Thursday night. They rebounded against Niagara but took a step backwards in Erie.

The Petes (31-25-1-2) remained three points ahead of the Mississauga Steelheads, 3-2 losers to the Barrie Colts, and idle Hamilton Bulldogs for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. The Otters (20-32-1-5) snapped a four-game losing streak and a four-game slide at home.

Petes head coach Rob Wilson thought playing three games in three nights with travel might have caught up to them.

“We dominated a lot of the game we just maybe made some tired mistakes we haven’t been making,” said Wilson. “The work rate was there. There were long, long periods of the game we were pretty darn good but we made some mistakes you can’t make.”

Sam Alfano, facing his former Petes teammates for the second time, got an early shot on goalie Michael Simpson. The Petes recovered the rebound but coughed up the puck to Dylan Edwards who centred it to Alex Messier who beat Simpson to open the scoring at 4:34.

The Petes had chances in the period with Owen Beck ripping a shot off the crossbar and J.R. Avon putting another off the post.

The Petes grabbed the lead with two goals 1:34 apart early in the second.

Avery Hayes tied it at 3:28 with his 37th goal of the season and 10th as a Pete and 100th in the OHL. Brennan Othmann forced a turnover and fed Hayes at the top of the faceoff circle where he turned and fired a shot past goalie Noland Lalonde.

Jonathan Melee, back after missing two weeks to injury and illness, put the Petes in front at 5:02 going to the net to complete a give-and-go from Jax Dubois.

The Petes looked like they had taken the game over when Erie got it back on even terms at 9:18 as Simpson lost track of the puck after it deflected off a body in front and flipped into the air and Elias Cohen jammed it in.

Simpson stopped Carey Terrance on a short-handed breakaway 90 seconds later.

Erie went back in front when Konnor Smith gave up the puck to Messier who fed Alexis Daviault who swooped in on Simpson and deked him out with 6:26 left in the second.

Connor Lockhart, playing his first game in Erie since the Otters dealt him to the Petes in August, tied it 3-3 on a power play with 1:13 left in the second. He one-timed an Othmann pass from the faceoff circle. Lockhart took his glove off and put his finger to his mouth to shush the crowd.

Malcolm Spence, the second overall pick in the 2022 OHL draft, took a long feed for a breakaway and deked Simpson while fending off a check to put Erie in front 9:38 into the third.

Lalonde, who stopped 37 shots for the win, made big stops off Sam Mayer and Othmann in the final three minutes before Liam Gilmartin scored into an empty net at 17:37.

On Friday night in St. Catharines, the Petes poured 66 shots on the IceDogs net for the second time this season. They broke through on goalie Owen Flores six times for shutout 6-0 win.

The line of Tucker Robertson, one goal and two assists, Avon, a goal and assist, and Lockhart, with two helpers, led the attack with a combined seven points. It was Avon’s fifth goal in five games. Lockhart has points in 17 of 18 contests.

Othmann, Dubois, Brian Zanetti and Gavin White also scored.

Liam Sztuska made 23 saves to record his first OHL shutout. Sztuska, making his first start in eight games, had to be sharp to turn aside Alex Assadourian on a quality scoring chance two minutes into the game. It might have been his toughest save of the night.

"That's what really got me into the game," said Sztuska. "I felt sharp on that save. it was a good start.

"It means a lot as a goalie you want that shutout," said Sztuska. "The boys played really well in front of me and the game went by fast."

NOTES: The Petes’ next action is Thursday when they begin a home-and-home series with the Kingston Frontenacs at 7:05 p.m. at the Memorial Centre. The Petes will celebrate World Kidney Day that night on the two-year anniversary of associate coach Andrew Verner receiving a kidney transplant. Funds will be raised for the Peterborough Regional Health Centre’s dialysis clinic.

Otters 5, Petes 3

First Period

1. Erie, Messier 2 (Edwards) 4:34.

Penalties — Dubois Pbo (double minor, high sticking) 13:07; Gilmartin Er (high sticking) 13:59.

Second Period

2. Peterborough, Hayes 37 (Othmann, Beck) 3:28.

3. Peterborough, Melee 8 (Dubois, Stillman) 5:02.

4. Erie, Cohen 15 (Daviault, Spence) 9:07.

5. Erie, Daviault 4 (Saganiuk, Messier) 13:34.

6. Peterborough, Lockhart 25 (Othmann, Mayer) 18:47 (pp).

Penalties — Sauder Er (illegal equipment) 9:30; Kulakov Er (high sticking) 17:30.

Third Period

7. Erie, Spence 14 (Terrance) 9:38.

8. Erie, Gilmartin 15 (unassisted) 17:37 (en).

Penalties — Dubois Pbo (hooking) 4:33; Avon Pbo, Morton Er (roughing) 15:27; Robertson Pbo (roughing) 18:23; Kulakov Er (cross checking; misconduct, misc-usc) 18:23; Stillman Pbo (misc-abuse of off.) 19:28.

Shots on goal by

Peterborough 9 18 13 _ 40

Erie 10 11 7 _ 28

Goal — Peterborough: Simpson (L, ). Erie: Lalonde (W, ).

Power plays (goals-chances) — Peterborough: 1-3; Erie: 0-3.

Referees — Darcy Burchell, Matt Scott. Linesmen — Ray King, Andre Grougrou.

Attendance — 5,033 at Erie.

The Canadian Press

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