McCollum, Troops survive ‘a little drama’
BRAMPTON, Ont. – It was like nothing Thomas McCollum had seen.
The Brampton Battalion outshot the Peterborough Petes 64-13 Sunday, but some fortuitous bounces helped the Petes send the Ontario Hockey League playoff game to overtime, where the Troops won 5-4 on Anthony Peluso’s goal 54 seconds into the extra period.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever had a game like that before,” Battalion goaltender McCollum said Monday. “But it happens sometimes, and it’s good that we pulled it out at the end.”
The Battalion leads the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal 2-0 with the third game scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Peterborough. The Petes will host Game 4 on Thursday night.
McCollum faced only two shots in the first period, when the Troops directed 24 at Petes goaltender Jason Missiaen.
“There wasn’t much for me to do,” said McCollum, who has played 176 regular-season and playoff games over three seasons with the Guelph Storm and Battalion, which acquired him in a trade Jan. 9. “I was just standing there. It’s tough to play games like that where you don’t get much action. It can be hard to stay focused.”
McCollum said he could tell as the game progressed that the workload was taking a toll on Missiaen, who faced 39 shots in a 5-2 Battalion victory in the series opener Friday night.
“I could see near the end of the second that he started taking his time getting up. You could tell he was getting tired.”
The Petes opened the scoring on the power play at 2:51 of the first period when Brett Theberge swatted the puck out of the air.
“I wasn’t expecting him to swing at the puck, and when he did I didn’t have much time to react,” said McCollum. “I came across and tried to make myself as big as possible. He got pretty lucky with that one.”
Zach Harnden’s second goal of the game tied it 4-4 at 15:39 of the third period. The puck went off McCollum’s glove and Matt Duchene’s skate before finding its way into the net.
“I still don’t know how the puck came off me and ended up in front,” said McCollum. “It added a little drama to the game, that’s for sure.”
Battalion coach Stan Butler said he expects the Petes to be rejuvenated playing at home for the first time in the series. A home show at the Peterborough Memorial Centre forced the Petes to play the first two games on the road.
“What we need to do is go there and get a win, and that will put them in a tough spot,” said Butler. “Obviously, at this time of the season we have to focus on one game at a time. We did what we had to do and won the first two games at home. The second game was a little closer than we would have wanted.”
While pleased that the Battalion has scored five power-play goals in the series, Butler said he wants to see more secondary scoring and even-strength goals. The line of right winger Peluso, centre Cody Hodgson and left winger Evgeny Grachev has combined for eight goals and 18 points.
“Our power play will have to be good for us to have success in the playoffs. I think we’ll get scoring from other guys as we go on. We’re getting chances and, if that keeps up, the goals will come. We need to be patient playing against a guy like Missiaen. We need to keep throwing pucks at him, hoping he’ll wear down.”
Fans in the Brampton area can see the game live on Rogers Cable 10.
