The Petes saw their chances slip away from a third-period surge from the rival Oshawa Generals as they lost a 6-3 battle at the Peterborough Memorial Centre on Thursday night.
The Generals wasted no time getting on the board. Just 2:22 into the game, Matthew Buckley intercepted a pass, deked through Liam Stzuska and scored for a 1-0 lead.
Oshawa struck just less than 2:30 later. Calum Ritchie laid a soft pass out in front for Stuart Rolofs, who one-timed it in at point-blank range to make it 2-0.
The Petes finally responded as their second draft pick in the fourth round, Joseph Cadorin scored his first OHL goal off a rebound from an odd-man rush to cut the deficit in half after one period.
The Generals continued to keep the pressure on the Petes as Rolofs wired a shot from the point and got through everybody including Stuzska to restore the Generals’s two-goal lead, 3-1.
Peterborough would not stay down as Nico Addy, from within the faceoff circle, threw one at the net and beat Generals goaltender Noah Bender for a score to make it 3-2 going into the third.
The Petes had a two-man advantage early in the third period and made it count as Chase Lefebvre drops one off for Caden Taylor and scored on the one-timer for a tie game early in the third.
The Generals however started their three-goal surge to put the game away as Buckley scored a late powerplay goal, Ritchie scored an empty netter and Luke Torrence got a tip-in goal in garbage time.
The Petes host their Pink in the Rink game against the Niagara IceDogs this Saturday with puck drop at 7:05 p.m.