The Peterborough Petes went toe to toe with the league-leading Ottawa 67s but came up short, coughing up a late-period goal for a 3-2 loss at the Peterborough Memorial Centre on Thursday night.
J.R. Avon opened the scoring 4:40 into the game, taking a stretch pass from Tucker Robertson used his speed to get behind Ottawa’s defence and got it past 67s goalie Collin Mackenzie for 1-0. Petes goaltender held his own, stopping all 14 shots that came his way going into the second period.
Ottawa quickly tied the game 1:54 into the period as Logan Morrison capitalized on a loose puck to make it 1-1 as the period’s only goal.
The first half of the third period saw no scoring but Sam Mayer rifled a point shot at 13:28 to give the Petes a 2-1 lead. It was short-lived as five minutes later, Ottawa applied heavy pressure at Peterborough’s net and Morrison dug out the puck from a scrum and got it in at an open net to tie the game. With just over a minute left, Cooper Foster was able to seal the win for Ottawa by batting a mid-air puck for the late lead and the 3-2 win.
The Petes travel to Kingston to take on the Frontenacs on Friday night. Peterborough remains in second place in the division, trailing 23 points to Ottawa. They stay ahead of Hamilton with three points but have one less game in hand.