The North Bay Battalion build up a lead but a third period collapse was the killer.
Petes forward Steve Lorentz had a night to remember as he scored four times in the third period alone as the Petes battled back with five third period goals in a 5-3 win over the North Bay Battalion in Peterborough Saturday night.
Justin Brazeau continued his goal scoring prowess as he opened the scoring in the first as he took a loose puck down the right wing on a neutral zone turnover and ripped a shot post and in for the 1-0 lead 10:23 into the first period.
Julian Sime kept the Petes off the scoresheet in the first which included a nifty poke check on Petes sniper Nikita Korostelev.
The Battalion added to the lead as rookie Rhys Forhan picked up a loose puck on a scramble in front of the Petes net and beat Dylan Wells for a 2-0 lead at 9:20 of the second.
The Troops continued to add to that lead just over five minutes later as Jesse Saban fed Brett McKenzie at the top of the circle and his shot through traffic beat Wells and the visiting Battalion took a stunning 3-0 lead into the locker room after 40 minutes.
The Petes did what they had to do to spark a comeback and that’s score early in the third period and the Peterborough squad did just that as Matyas Svoboda got a puck in the slot on a rush and he beat Sime with a sneaky shot that beat the rookie netminder between the legs which made it 3-1 only 2:36 into the third.
Then the Steven Lorentz show took over the contest.
The big forward split the defence and beat Sime for his first of the game at 5:03 of the third to make it a 3-2 hockey game.
Lorentz then found the equalizer on what appeared to be a harmless wrist shot from the point which went by two Battalion defenders and eluded Sime to even the game a 3-3 at 8:40.
Then it was Korostelev again splitting the Battalion defence and this time fed a streaking Lorentz who made no mistake for the hat trick goal and the Petes first lead of the hockey game at 14:16 of the third period.
Lorentz finished off an amazing comeback for the Petes with an empty net tally at 18:33.
Sime finished the game with 27 saves in the loss as the Troops fall to 18-23-3 on the season.
North Bay native and Powassan Voodoos defenceman Bo Peltier made his debut as a call-up with the Battalion in the road contest.
The Battalion are back on home ice Sunday afternoon as they face Evan Cormier and the Saginaw Spirit for Coach4Food day. Puck drop is set for 2 p.m. at Memorial Gardens.
