Peterborough Petes Fall to Hamilton Bulldogs 2-1 in Shootout After Stout Goaltender Battle

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It was a battle of the goaltenders but the defending champion Hamilton Bulldogs squeezed out a 2-1 shootout win over the Peterborough Petes at the Peterborough Memorial Centre on a rare Tuesday night.

The Peterborough Petes had won the last two meetings against the Bulldogs this season. Photo courtesy of Kenneth Andersen Photography and the Peterborough Petes.

Goaltenders Matteo Drobac and Michael Simpson were heavily tested, facing a combined 71 shots for Hamilton and Peterborough respectively.

Shawn Spearing, Brian Zanetti, Konnor Smith, and Michael Simpson all returned to Petes lineup after being absent from the weekend games.

Peterborough only took five minutes to score when Tommy Purdeller tapped in a one-timer in front of Drobac to lead the Petes 1-0. The play was under review for an offside call but was deemed onside and the goal stood. Hamilton answered seven minutes later on the power play as Gavin White sunck a point shot past Simpson to tie the game at 1-1 into the third.

The second period became a goaltender battle as both Drobac and Simpson stood tall in net, stopping all 26 shots that came their way (12 shots from Hamilton and 14 from Peterborough). The game remained tied heading into the third period.

Both goalies proved reliable to their teams again as they stopped everything coming their way in the third. Drobac stopped 10 shots while Simpson turned away all eight as the game went into overtime.

Three-on-three overtime play was reminiscent of the prior two periods as the tie could not be broken despite good scoring chances from both teams. The game would go to a shootout, the second time in two weeks for Peterborough.

Shootout results:

PBO

  • Tucker Robertson – No goal

  • Justin DeZoete – No goal

  • Connor Lockhart – Goal

  • Tommy Purdeller – Goal

  • Sahil Panwar – No goal

  • James Guo – No goal

  • Sam McCue – No goal

HAM

  • Avery Hayes – No goal

  • Logan Morrison – Goal

  • Gavin White – No goal

  • Cole Brown – Goal

  • Braeden O’Keefe – No goal

  • Ryan Humphrey – No goal

  • Lucas Moore – Goal

Peterborough-born Lucas Moore buried home the game-winner for Hamilton, beating Simpson top shelf to escape with a 2-1 win.

The Petes hit the road for Windsor to take on the Western Conference-leading Spitfires for the first time since 2020 this Thursday.

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