The Guelph Storm weathered their first taste of adversity.
They had to battle through hard hits and a goaltender who stood on his head for much of the game. But the Storm (3-2-0-0) managed to get a 6-3 win over the visiting Peterborough Petes on Friday night to snap a 2-game losing streak.
The victory was especially sweet for Max Namestnikov. The overage winger collected his first goal of the season in his fourth game since coming back from NHL camp.
“I tend to get off to a dry start,” Namestnikov said. “It was nice getting a goal and an assist and getting a win too.”
Guelph got off to a 3-0 lead on goals by Ryan McGuire, Sam Johnston, and Alex McLean. But Caden Taylor got Peterborough on the board with 31 seconds left in the second period.
The Petes then got to within one after Carson Cameron scored on a 5-on-3 power play early in the third period.
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The Storm had to deal with the loss of defenceman Quinn Beauchesne who left the game in the second period with what appeared to be a leg injury.
Guelph also had trouble staying out of the penalty box, handing Peterborough the man advantage seven times in the game.
“We took too many penalties and against a team that’s high-scoring. That’s going to cost us,” Storm head coach Cory Stillman said. “It’s great we got the win but we kept shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Stillman, however, thought the team handled a tough stretch where they lost a pair of close games last weekend.
“The biggest thing is we want to give ourselves a chance to win,” he said. “Sometimes it’s not pretty, sometimes we are going through some players.”
Guelph were 1-for-3 on the power play.
The game at times got pretty chippy. The Storm went up 4-2 in the third period on Namestnikov’s goal but the Petes answered back 10 seconds later on a goal by Colin Fitzgerald to cut the lead by one goal.
Namestnikov said his team stood tall in the end.
“The boys fought back, we brought just as much energy back if not even more,” he said.
Charlie Paquette (one goal, one assist) and Hunter Mackenzie rounded out the scoring for the Storm.
Brayden Gillespie finished with 33 saves for the Storm while Zach Bowen stopped 40 shots for the Petes who are still looking for their first points of the season (0-6-0-0).
It doesn’t get any easier for the Storm as their next opponent is the London Knights at Canada Life Place. You can catch the game on 1460 CJOY with the broadcast starting at 3:45 p.m.