Florian Xhekaj — brother of Montréal Canadiens defenceman Arber Xhekaj — opened the scoring for Brantford late in the first period with a one-timer. Zakary Lavoie joined on the scoring to put up a 2-0 lead with a one-timer shortly after the Bulldogs won the faceoff. That was the score heading into the second period.
Peterborough found themselves on the scoreboard after killing off a four-on-three penalty kill. Jake O’Brien tried to deke around the Petes defence but Tommy Purdeller pickpocketed the Brantford captain and had a breakout stretch pass to Johnathan Melee. The Petes captain did a spin-o-rama dek and sniped it on the backhand to cut the deficit in half for a 2-1 game.
Unfortunately, it was all downhill for the rest of the game for Peterborough. Two minutes later, Brantford scored three straight goals in a 2:21 span to bring their lead to four with a 5-1 game.
Late in the frame, Peterborough had a massive opportunity as they got a five-minute powerplay after a check-to-the-head major penalty from Daniil Sobolev. He also got a game misconduct for the hit. In an ironic twist, Brantford scored three goals shorthanded on the same penalty kill thanks to Ben Bujold, Lawson Sherk and Xhekaj to round out the period.
The Bulldogs tacked on three more goals in the final stanza while suppressing Peterborough’s offence for an 11-1 beatdown.
The Petes will have to shake off the loss and get ready for Thursday as they host the Guelph Storm at the Peterborough Memorial Centre with the puck drop at 7:05 p.m.
