Saturday night at the Memorial Centre, our Petes showed plenty of fight — just not enough finish. Peterborough erased a two-goal deficit to pull even in the second period, but the Ottawa 67's poured in four goals in the third to skate away with a 6-3 win.
Ottawa struck first, with Spencer Bowes beating the Petes' defence just over four minutes into the opening frame. Jaiden Newton doubled the lead with only 32 seconds left before the first intermission, sending the visitors into the break up 2-0.
The home side answered in the middle frame. Adam Levac got Peterborough on the board midway through the period, with captain Carson Cameron and Grayden Strohack drawing the assists. Then, late in the frame, Leon Kolarik buried a power-play marker to knot things at 2-2, with helpers from Adam Novotný and Levac. The teams headed to the second intermission all square.
Ottawa reclaimed the advantage early in the third on a Theo Avila goal, then stretched it to 4-2 when Andrew Laurin converted on the power play just past the midway mark of the period.
Peterborough refused to go quietly. With a little over two minutes to play, Novotny struck on the power play — assisted by Cooper Dennis and Kolarik — to pull the Petes back within one.
That was as close as it would get. Ottawa sealed the result with a pair of empty-net goals in the final minute, the first being Bowes' second of the night and the second Jack Johnson's first of the season, making the final 6-3.
The Petes' scoring summary on the night: Adam Levac (1G, 1A), Leon Kolarik (1G, 1A), Adam Novotny (1G, 1A), Cooper Dennis (1A), Carson Cameron (1A) and Grayden Strohack (1A).
Between the pipes, Owen Nelson turned aside 25 of the 29 shots he faced for Peterborough, while Jaeden Nelson earned the win for Ottawa with 30 saves on 33 shots. Special teams told part of the story: the Petes finished 2-for-1 on the power play, and Ottawa went 1-for-3.
The loss leaves Peterborough at 1-4 on the young season. There's no time to dwell on it, though — the Petes are back on home ice at the PMC on Thursday, October 1st, when the Erie Otters come to town. Puck drop is set for 7pm, and after a night like Saturday, our guys will be hungry to give the home crowd something to cheer about.
