Petes goaltender Easton Rye was making his first home career start in the game but had it rough facing his first shot of the game. Aiden O’Donnell received a pass and one-timed it home at point blank range to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead just 3:06 into the period. Petes captain Johnathan Melee got one back for Peterborough, scoring his team-leading sixth goal of the season off a centring pass from Ryder McIntyre just over five minutes later. It was 1-1 heading into the second period.
Neither team had scored until over halfway throught he frame as Brantford reestablished their lead. Joshua Avery took a shot that went wide but a fortunate bounce ended up on the stick of Nikolas Rossetto on the opposite side of the net and buried it for a 2-1 lead going into the third.
Peterborough refusing to go down without a fight tied things up again, this time on the power play. Aiden Young took matters into his own hands once he crossed the blue line, he beat a defender and took a wide-angle shot that beat Bulldogs goaltender Ryerson Leenders for a 2-2 tie. Rye was credited with the secondary assist the goal
It took less than three minutes for Brantford to regain the lead as the Bulldogs had Rye under siege in front of his net and after a few shots, wired one home thanks to Calvin Crombie to reestablish the 3-2 lead. Lardis put the dagger to the Petes on the power play as he got a quick one-timed goal to amke it 4-2 with just over 4 minutes in regulation. To add insult to injury, Lardis struck again with an empty-net goal to seal the victory for Brantford, 5-2.
The Petes hit the road to face Kingston Frontenacs at Slush Puppie Place on Fridya night. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.
