Peterborough Lakers Hold Off Last-Second Rally to Deal Six Nations Chiefs First Loss of the Season In MSL Final

It came down to the last second but the Peterborough Lakers dealt the Six Nations Chiefs their first loss of the season with a 9-8 win to take Game One of the MSL finals at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena on Tuesday.

Photo courtesy of the Peterborough Lakers.

Six Nations had a hot start and jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first nine minutes of the game. Thomas Hoggarth had the lone goal on the power play for Peterborough in that stretch.

The Lakers began to swing the momentum in their favour as Owen Hiltz got another power-play goal. Joe Resetarits and Hoggarth followed up with scores to give Peterborough a 4-3 lead with a three-goal run.

Three goals came in the final two minutes of the period as Brendan Bomberry tied things up at four. Hiltz and Resetarits scored for Peterborough to restore their lead and have a two-goal cushion going into the second period, 6-4.

The second period was a low-scoring affair as both teams split three goals. The teams alternated goals as Turner Evans scored just over eight minutes into the period. Dhane Smith got one back for Six Nations but Rob Hellyer helped Peterborough pull away for an 8-5 lead going into the third.

Six Nations tried to rally against Peterborough in the final frame. Travis Longboat scored a pair of goals to cut the Lakers’s lead to one with just under halfway through the period. Peterborough was on transition and they made it count as Taylor Jensen scored with 5:40 left in the game for a two-goal lead with a 9-7 score. Randy Staats scored with 95 seconds left in regulation to make it 9-8 and pulled Six Nations within striking distance.

Smith was looking for his second goal of the game and took a shot with five seconds left. Lakers goaltender Landon Kells made the stop and preserved the win to deal Six Nations their first loss of the season.

“I expected us to come out firing,” said Kells. “It’s the MSL Finals and both teams deserve to be here. It was just going to be who wanted it more and I feel like we dictated the pace and we dictated how we wanted the game to be played.”

The Lakers allowed a combined four goals in the second and third periods, the same as they let in from the first.

“The defence makes my job easy when they play like that,” explained Kells. “They weren’t getting any looks from inside. The looks they were getting were outside shots which I should stop down the alley.”

Six Nations will look to even the series where Game Two is at the Peterborough Memorial Centre on Thursday.

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