Petes open two game series lead

PETERBOROUGH -- The Peterborough Petes are beginning to enjoy overtime contests in this years playoffs.

The Petes improved their record to 9-0 in overtime contests in the playoffs on Sunday with a 4-3 victory over the London Knights. The win was the second straight overtime win in the series for the Petes, whotook a 2-0 series lead.

The Petes stole home-ice advantage on Friday night when Patrick Kaleta scored at 14:20 of the second overtime to give the Petes the victory. On Sunday, Fredrik Naslund was the hero as the rookie forward slid a loose puck past Knights goaltender Steve Mason.

Mason started the game in place of injured veteran Adam Dennis.

Dennis was the scheduled starter, but Mason took over the role after Dennis suffered what Knights coach Dale Hunter would only describe as a "lower-body injury".

Power plays were key early on as both teams capitalized on some early odd-man situations. Dylan Hunter opened the scoring at 1:59 when he converted a rebound off a Sergei Kostitsyn shot on the power play.

A pair of power play goals by Daniel Ryder, just 1:03 apart gave the Petes a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.

Rob Schremp got the Knights back on even terms at 4:03 of the second period with a power play goal of his own before Patrick Kaleta scored the first even strength goal of the night at 18:41.

Schremp pulled the Knights back at 3:37 of the third period, which set the stage for Naslund's heroics in overtime.

"Both teams played hard and had scoring chances," said Knights coach Dale Hunter. "It could have went either way. Unfortunately their guy pushed David Halasz into the goalie and Mason couldn't make the save (on the overtime goal). That's part of the game and you've got to move on."

"Their defenceman (Halasz) did bump into the goalie," said Petes coach Dick Todd. "Jamie Tardif went to the net, and was clearly outside of the crease, and there might have been the slightest touch of the defenceman, but in no way a play where he pushed him, or impeded him, into the goalie."

"We played a hard game," added Knights veteran forward Dylan Hunter. "We did exactly what we wanted to do. It was a good game overall, we had a good effort. They got the bounces and you can't do anything about that."

Hunter did not elaborate on the extent of the injury to Dennis and did not comment on whether or not he would play in game three in London.

"The Knights have great experience on their club and we knew we had to go and win in their building," said Todd. "Had we given today's game up, I think it would have been a huge mental lift for their hockey club and it would have been a big downer for us. It was a big thing for us to get the win here. Give (London) full credit. As the game wore on, they really started to come on. It was a real battle right to the finish."

The two teams will enjoy a night off on Monday night before the series shifts back to the John Labatt Centre in London on Tuesday night.

Game four is set for Thursday night in Peterborough.