Days after firing head coach Vince Laise, the Hamilton Bulldogs were blown away 8-0 in Peterborough Thursday night.
Bulldogs President and General Manager Steve Staios was not behind the bench during the game, opting instead to have associate coach Dave Matsos take that position.
But the new look coaching staff didn’t translate into success on the ice as Hamilton lost its fifth game in a row, and dropped five of seven meetings in their season series against the Petes.
Peterborough opened the scoring 2:55 into the game when J.R. Avon scored his fourth goal of the season by beating Dogs’ goalie Marco Costantini.
Hamilton’s Isaac Nurse was awarded a penalty shot minutes later, but Petes netminder Hunter Jones stopped the attempt by the Bulldogs’ captain.
Less than five minutes later, Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick Nick Robertson rifled his 51st goal of the OHL season past Costantini to make it a 2-0 lead for Peterborough.
Akil Thomas made it 3-0 for the Petes with 7:45 to go in the first period when he capitalized on a Hamilton turnover and buried his 21st goal of the campaign.
Brady Hinz scored the first of his two goals in front of the hometown fans at the Peterborough Memorial Centre when he was the last player to touch the puck while standing in the crease as it trickled past Constantini and into the net 7:47 into the second period.
Hinz added his second goal of the contest about 10 minutes later when he skated from behind the back of Hamilton’s net and tucked the puck just under the crossbar from a sharp angle, making it 5-0 for the Petes.
At 9:05 of the third period, Liam Kirk snapped a shot past Costantini from the left wing while the Petes were on the power-play to make it 6-0, and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev and Zach Gallant rounded out the scoring with tallies in the last two-and-a-half minutes.
Hamilton will try to break their five-game losing streak Saturday afternoon when they host the Saginaw Spirit at FirstOntario Centre.
Proceeds from Saturday’s 50/50 draw will go to the Bulldogs Foundation.
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