PETERBOROUGH, Ont. (Interstat) — Leon Kolarik had one goal and one assist, and the Peterborough Petes held off the Brantford Bulldogs 4-3 on Thursday at Peterborough Memorial Centre. The Petes improved to 7-8 this season, while the Bulldogs dropped to 10-5. Peterborough won before an announced attendance of 2,300. Brantford was the visiting team, and the game remained close into the final minute after the Bulldogs trimmed a two-goal deficit.

Peterborough opened the scoring at 1:51 of the first period when Adam Levac scored from Aiden Young and Mason Minsky. A fight between Brantford’s Matthew Hlacar and Peterborough’s Grayden Strohack at 11:11 added intensity. Brantford answered at 11:20 on an unassisted goal by Adam Nemec. The Petes regained the lead at 11:35 when Braydon McCallum scored from Holden Carter and Cooper Dennis. Brantford’s David Buchman was called for hooking at 15:13, and Peterborough led after the first period.

Peterborough stretched its lead at 12 seconds of the second period when Kolarik scored from Yanis Lutz and Carter. Brantford responded at 52 seconds when Aiden Kelly scored from Jet Kwajah. The Petes restored a two-goal cushion at 11:55 of the middle period when Adam Novotny scored from Kolarik and Lucas Karmiris. Penalties disrupted the flow, including roughing on Brantford’s George Komadoski, tripping on Peterborough’s Carson Cameron, slashing on Strohack and coincidental unsportsmanlike penalties to Brantford’s Kaden McGregor and Peterborough’s Francis Parish. The teams combined for 14 penalties, including matching five-minute fighting majors. Peterborough took a 4-2 lead into the third period.

Brantford pushed in the third and benefited from a series of Peterborough penalties. Mason Minsky was called for hooking at 2:47, Adam Levac for interference at 8:27, and Strohack for slashing at 9:08 and interference at 9:14. Peterborough also received a slashing penalty on Aiden Young and an abuse of officials misconduct on Matthew Perreault at 11:47. Jack Good pulled Brantford within a goal at the 19-minute mark, scoring from David Buchman and Kwajah. Strohack was called for holding at 19:50, but Brantford could not find an equalizer before the final horn. Brantford could not convert on the ensuing power play.

Kolarik, a 5-foot-11, 175-pound left wing from Vienna, was Peterborough’s top star, finishing with one goal, one assist and two shots on goal. Levac, a 6-foot center, added one goal, five shots and two penalty minutes. McCallum, a 5-foot-10, 192-pound right wing, had one goal and three shots, Novotny, a 6-foot-1, 204-pound right wing, had one goal and two shots, and Carter, a 6-foot, 179-pound defenseman, contributed two assists and one shot. For Brantford, Good, a 5-foot-10, 172-pound right wing, had one goal and five shots, Kelly had one goal and three shots, Nemec had one goal and three shots, and Kwajah, a 6-foot, 176-pound defenseman, recorded two assists and one shot. Xavier Lieb added four shots for the Bulldogs. Kolarik’s performance followed recent outings in which he had a goal and three shots against Oshawa on Oct. 22 and an assist against Barrie on Oct. 17.

The result continued a difficult recent stretch for Brantford, which had lost to Brampton in its previous game after an 8-2 win at Brampton. Peterborough had lost at Oshawa in its previous game before returning home. Peterborough had won three of its previous five games before that loss at Oshawa. Earlier this season, Peterborough lost 5-2 at Brantford on Sept. 25 in the teams’ only previous meeting. Brantford next plays at Ottawa on Oct. 30, while Peterborough next visits Kingston on Oct. 30. The teams will meet again later in the season.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Brantford 4, Peterborough 3. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Brantford with a 68 percent probability to win. The total score of 7 went under the over/under line of 6.5.