Panthers rout Rebels, play Picton for a point

Posted By JEFF GARD

Every point that is up for grabs becomes more critical for the teams trying to position themselves in the top four playoff spots as the Empire junior C hockey regular season heads into its final month.

Only the Frontenac Flyers have been eliminated from playoff contention while the other five clubs could still do some flip-flopping in the standings. Four of them, however, have just 10 or fewer outings remaining in the 40-game schedule. The Amherstview Jets had 12 games left before facing Frontenac last night.

"We're still shooting for first," said Port Hope head coach Matt Muir. "There's still a lot of points to be had."

Port Hope got two points for a 7-2 victory over the visiting Campbellford Rebels on Friday night at the Jack Burger Sports Complex.

Saturday night, at home as well, the Panthers were edged 2-1 by the Picton Pirates in a shootout. Port Hope gained a point for the loss, but Picton picked up the extra point for the win.

"I think we got out of our slump," Muir said of his Port Hope squad which had lost six of seven games entering this past weekend's schedule. "We got three out of four points. Am I satisfied? Sure. But I would've liked four. It shows once again you can't take a night off in this league. All five teams in the top five are tough teams to play against."

Fourth-place Picton came to Port Hope looking to gain ground on the third-place Panthers, but Muir said he could tell the Pirates were also conscious of their position -- only two points ahead of fifth-place Campbellford at the time.

"I could see it in their warm-up," he said. "They're fighting for a playoff spot, so you've got to give Picton a little bit of credit there. They came out and battled hard all night."

There was no scoring for nearly two periods of play Saturday night. Port Hope went on a power play late in the second period, but it was the Pirates who capitalized on a scoring chance as Dylan Leduc beat Panthers goaltender Jory Fuller on a shorthanded breakaway with 52 seconds left in the middle frame.

Port Hope answered back at the 6:44 mark of the third when it kept the pressure on in the offensive zone. They kept driving to the net and Kyle Giroux was able to bury the puck past netminder Haden McInroy. 

That was the last goal of regulation time, even with both clubs having late power play opportunities, including Port Hope's which carried on into overtime. There were no power play goals scored in the game though on 17 opportunities; nine for Picton and eight for Port Hope.

Port Hope held a 7-0 shots advantage in overtime, but couldn't end the contest. McInroy was stellar and shut down two of the three Panthers he faced in the shootout as well.

Picton's first shooter, Jack Davison, and third shooter, Ryan Sizer, both scored. Trevor Sweetland, the first shooter for Port Hope was also successful, before McInroy turned aside the scoring attempts by Nick Camalliri and Logan Arsenault.

Muir praised the work of the goaltenders. McInroy got the win with 31 saves but Fuller was also stellar in making 37 saves in regulation time to help get the Panthers to overtime.

"I thought their goalie absolutely stole the show, as well as (Fuller)," Muir said. "I think we out-shot them in the overtime, we just couldn't put it past (McInroy). We had every opportunity to win the hockey game, but they hung in and got the point in the shootout. I thought we battled hard to get that goal in the third, and a bounce here or a bounce there, we could've won the game."

Camalliri had one of the chances for Port Hope in the overtime period when his point-blank shot was stopped by the quick glove of McInroy.

Acquired last week from the Trenton Golden Hawks of the Ontario Junior A Hockey League, Camalliri scored twice in his debut Friday night in the win against Campbellford.

Muir was coaching Trenton when the junior hockey season began. He said Camalliri is a welcome addition in Port Hope and is already doing what's expected of him.

"He's a spark plug and I expect energy out of him," the coach said. "(Friday) night he scored two goals on one shift and tonight he could've had a couple as well, so I expect him to make impact, for sure."

Camalliri will also boost Port Hope's penalty killing, Muir added. The Panthers killed off 11 penalties on Friday night, allowing the Rebels just one power play goal on 12 opportunities.

Meanwhile. Dan McCarthy registered a hat trick and extended his goal-scoring streak to four games before it ended Saturday. McCarthy had seven goals during that stretch.

Jesse Sheppard and Adam Vandertoorn also scored for Port Hope. Seamus McDougall replied with both goals for Campbellford.

After losing back-to-back games to Amherstview the previous weekend, Muir said the Panthers went back to the drawing board at practices during the week. He shifted some players onto different lines, but specifically spent a lot of time work on special teams.

Power play work was especially important and the coach was pleased to see four goals scored with the man-advantage on Friday night.

"We did work a lot on our forecheck, trying to gain a lot of pressure in all three zones, not just the offensive zone," Muir said. "I'm happy with the results we got in correlation to what we worked on."

Port Hope should have two injured defencemen back in the lineup soon. Cal Johnston, who hasn't played since Dec. 8, can resume skating tonight at practice while Kevin Curridor, injured last weekend, is expected to return tomorrow night when the Panthers play in Napanee against the league-leading Raiders, in what should be a good test for Port Hope.

"We have to be able to compete for 60 minutes," Muir said. We've got to be intense on the ice and intense on the bench. Our power play has got to be better and our penalty killing has got to be better. Our special teams is what's going to make us or break us."

Muir also said "whoever's hungriest" will position themselves best for a playoff run.

"You really have to look at who wants to dig deep and win games," he said.