Peterborough Petes Take First Home Playoff Loss From North Bay Battalion in 5-2 Loss; Series Tied at 2-2

The Peterborough Petes get their first home playoff loss in a 5-2 defeat against the North Bay Battalion to even the series at 2-2, at the Peterborough Memorial Centre on Wednesday night.

Peterborough had led in faceoffs, penalties drawn and shots on net in Wednesday’s game. Photo courtesy Kenneth Andersen and the Peterborough PEtes.

North Bay wasted no time opening up the scoring as they forced a turnover in the offensive zone. This resulted in Owen Van Steensel putting home the opening goal, beating Michael Simpsons for a 1-0 Battalion lead. The Petes drew a roughing penalty from North Bay but were unable to score on the man advantage. Fresh off the penalty kill, Josh Bloom forced a turnover in the neutral zone for North Bay. He passed it to Kyle Jackson after crossing the blue line and the latter sniped it past Simpson to give North Bay a 2-0 lead not halfway through the first period. Peterborough started to find their groove as Brennan Othmann carried the puck into the offensive zone with patience as he waited for help to arrive off a line change. Tommy Purdeller came to aid on the play, almost scored on his first shot but got his own rebound and buried it to cut the deficit in half at 2-1. That score would carry into the second period with the shots at 12-11 in favour of the Battalion.

Peterborough had a power play 3:41 into the period and seemingly had a wide-open net for a one-timer but the Petes could not get it at the net as the game remained 2-1. Four minutes later, North Bay had an outnumbered attack on Peterborough as Ty Nelson was able to rifle it past Simpson through the five-hole and the Battalion extended their lead, 3-1. The Petes would not go down quietly as just over five and a half minutes left in the period, J.R. Avon got a nice pass from Purdeller and sniped it past Dom DiVincentiis to make it a one-goal game, 3-2. That was Purdeller’s second point of the night as Shawn Spearing had the secondary assist. Peterborough drew a tripping minor penalty with 2:07 left to go but that was a blessing in disguise for North Bay. The Petes fumbled the puck at the blue line and resulting in a Van Steensel breakaway. Simpsons was up to the task and made the save. Shortly after the Battalion possessed the puck in their own zone, they had a two-on-two situation as Van Steensel got redemption and scored on a  sharp-angle shot for a 4-2 lead going into the third.

The Petes pushed hard to get on the board in the third period. The Petes were given their first penalty under eight minutes into the period but it eventually led to a shorthanded breakaway from Brennan Othmann. He chipped it just wide and the score remained the same. The Petes pulled the goalie in the final few minutes of the game, desperate to close the gap. Battalion captain Liam Arnsby was able to force a turnover while Peterborough had the extra attacker and added the dagger for a 5-2 lead. Peterborough registered 18 shots on net to North Bay’s seven but couldn’t solve DiVincentiis and the Battalion was able to split their road trip for a 2-2 series tie.

Van Steensel, Nelson and Purdeller were the three stars of the game.

The Petes play Game Five on the road in North Bay on Friday as the series has turned into a best-of-three. Tickets for Game Six go on sale starting at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday.

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