Sapurji: Majors outlast Petes to take Game 1

Mississauga forward Rob Flick scored the game-tying goal on a penalty shot for the Majors en route to a 4-2 victory over the visiting Peterborough Petes on Friday night. It was, without doubt, the turning point of the game. So before Flick took his shot -- a backhander that beat Petes goalie Jason Missiaen through the five-hole -- he asked the referee for a little advice...

"I was thinking maybe just go forehand or whatever, then all of a sudden I was confused," said the London, Ont., native. "I talked to the ref, I pulled him over and said, 'What do you think I should do here?' He goes, 'Well, he's a big goalie y'know and he's got a big five-hole.' So I kinda changed my thinking as I went down, and I thought, 'Y'know what? He's probably right.' So I tried it out and it worked.

"Thank goodness for (the referee), I'll give him an assist on that one... once he said it, it clicked."

Flick was awarded the penalty shot 13 seconds after the Petes had taken a 2-1 lead in the third period on a goal by Austin Watson. Petes head coach Ken McRae said the infraction -- Flicked was hauled down on a breakaway -- was not captured in full by the video, so he would not comment. He did however say he's seen those calls go both ways this season.

"I've seen those called penalty shots this year and we had one last week that was similar to that, that wasn't called a penalty shot," said McRae.

"It's frustrating though, to give (a goal) up the next shift after you score the go-ahead goal," he added.

Missiaen finished the game with 29 saves while across the ice, Majors netminder Chris Carrozzi stopped 27 to take Game 1 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series. The biggest Majors save, however, may have come from forward Jordan Mayer who also scored the opening goal for Mississauga.

Roughly two minutes after the Majors had gone up 3-2 in the third period, there was a mad scramble in front of Carrozzi. With the netminder down, Mayer managed to stick his leg out and deflect defenceman Brian Birkhoff's shot at the last minute, saving a sure Petes goal.

"I just tried to get my foot as close as I could to the puck," said Mayer. "I think I got a little bit lucky."

Flick, who was serving a five-minute fighting major at the time, had a good view from the box.

"I was watching and I was just praying," said Flick. "I think it hit him in the shinpad, it was unbelievable."

Mayer said he practices shot-blocking quite a bit and he played in net once when he was younger but, "I got 15 goals scored against me, though, so I quit that pretty fast."

There was a scary moment near the end of the game when Petes rookie forward Matt Puempel took a bullet from teammate Jamie Doornbosch off his visor. The OHL's rookie scoring leader was shaken up but returned for a final shift. After the game, Puempel was icing a very nasty looking welt on his cheek.

"He's fine," said McRae.

Game 2 of the series is Monday night in Peterborough.

As always - questions, comments, compliments, complaints, threats etc: [email protected] or on Twitter @loosepucks