Matthew Soto's Four-Point Night Propels Peterborough Petes to Home Opener Victory Over Brampton Steelheads

Matthew Soto’s hot start and four points helped the Peterborough Petes start the regular season on the right foot as they won their home opener, 6-3, against the Brampton Steelheads at the Peterborough Memorial Centre on Thursday night.

Photo courtesy of David Pickering and the Peterborough Petes.

Soto started the scoring after getting a centreing pass from Leon Kolarik and then ripped it past former Petes goaltender Zach Bowen for 1-0 lead. The Petes quickly lost the lead as Keaton Ardaugh scored just under three minutes later on the power play then Brampton tacked on another goal thanks to Julian Demiglio just 90 seconds later. The Petes showed off their power play prowess as Adam Levac faked a shot then quickly dished it to Kolarik for the tip-in goal to tie it at two apiece headed into the second period. Soto had the secondary assist.

Colin Fitzgerald, Peterborough’s 2024 first-round OHL priority selection pick made his presence felt to kick off the stanza. He won a faceoff on the power play and saw the puck get cycled back to him. He wristed it past Bowen and Peterborough regained the lead, 3-2, as the period’s only goal. Soto earned his third point with another secondary assist.

David Green tied the game, 4:33 into the third period but that was as far as Brampton got. Peterborough and Soto held the zone that fed the puck to Brennan Faulkner. He took a wide-angle from just inside the faceoff circle and scored to pull ahead, 4-3. Just as Brampton’s power play was about to finish, Francis Parish forced a turnover in the offensive zone and slipped it past Bowen for the insurance marker and a 5-3 lead. Faulkner added an empty-net goal and the Petes were successful in their home opener with a 6-4 win.

The Petes have their first road game of the season to take on the Brantford Bulldogs this Saturday at the TD Civic Centre at 7 p.m.

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