It was the Brennan Othmann show as he scored a hat trick to propel the Peterborough Petes to a 5-3 win over the Niagara IceDogs at the Peterborough Memorial Centre on Thursday night.
Othmann wasted no time, scoring 57 seconds into the first period, tipping in a Tucker Robertson pass for a 1-0 lead. Niagara retaliated just under two minutes later as Michael Podolioukh scored on the backhand, beating goaltender Michael Simpson for a 1-1 tie. Othmann struck again for Peterborough after Avery Hayes forced a defensive zone turnover and eventually made the pass for the Petes’ second goal.
Niagara opened the scoring 6:49 into the second period as Andrew Leblanc was the recipient of a puck chipped out from a board scrum to beat Simpson for a 2-2 tie. Othmann got the lids flying after cleaning up a juicy rebound after a Samuel Mayer shot for a 3-2 lead, closing out the second.
The IceDogs were matching Peterborough goal for goal as Alex Assadourian opened the third-period scoring, ripping a wrist shot from the faceoff dot for a Niagara power play goal to tie it at three apiece. Peterborough peppered Niagara goalie Josh Rosenzweig looked unbeatable with 28 shots during the third, making him seem like a brick wall until Robertson tipped in Brian Zanetti point shot for a 4-3 Petes lead late in the third. Robertson added an insurance marker with an empty-net goal to seal the 5-3 Petes win.
The Petes next game is Pink in the Rink on Saturday against the rival Oshawa Generals at home.