The Port Hope Predators lost 5-2 Sunday night to the division-leading Lindsay Muskies. The Preds had started the weekend off with two wins over Whitby and Pickering before returning home to face the Muskies.

“We started off slow,” said Capt. Jeremy McCarty who is a native of Lindsay. The Preds were in a 3-0 hole by the end of the first period after goals at 8:54, an unassisted marker off a Predator defensive error at 10:03, and a power-play marker at 19:38.

Mitch Moffatt, who is on a nice scoring streak after finding himself on the explosive McCarty-Tyler Miller line, scored 33 seconds into the second to give the hosts a little spark. But it was dampened only moments later as Lindsay scored at 3:44 to regain their three-goal lead.

The rest of the second period was fairly quiet until the end, when officials began tossing out penalties like candy at Halloween; Port Hope took two minors while the Muskies were handed three, all at the 17:24 mark. With the man advantage, the Preds did a whole lot of nothing much to the chagrin of the coaching staff who were visibly unhappy with the team’s play.

At the start of the third, Dave Williams had a little help from 16-year old rookie Jake Taylor and beat Lindsay’s stellar netminder, Matt Ginn. Williams then dove into the bench in celebration, which seemed to annoy the officiating staff.

Williams was later penalized for roughing, and received four minutes on a questionable call. The Muskies gobbled up the chance at sealing Port Hope’s fate and knocked in a deflating fifth goal.

“We really took it to them in the second,” McCarty said. “We just didn’t bury, and they scored on the power play, and we were all over them for the first 10, and when we got that second goal and it was 4-2, the momentum changed, but that fifth goal just killed us.”

After winning their two previous games, McCarty said coming into Sunday’s game, “I really thought we’d take it to them. I mean, we’re just as skilled if not more skilled than them, and we had a lot of momentum, but we didn’t focus and they were doing the little things right and we weren’t.”

Playing against many of his friends and former teammates used to make McCarty a little nervous when he was younger, but now, he said: “I don’t think it adds any pressure, actually, it’s good because I know how a lot of guys play, and I can tell the guys here who to watch for, who’s all talk and who’ll run ya.”

McCarty said Port Hope’s weakness Sunday was “getting the pucks on net. Our work ethic wasn’t good, just wanting it. And we didn’t play gritty.”

McCarty was not pleased with the officiating. He said “twice when they evened it up, we should have had power plays, I thought he was making up calls. The four minutes that Williams got, he gave him another for roughing, but Dave didn’t do anything, he just sat there and took punches, that’s when Lindsay scored.”

McCarty said he wasn’t sure if the penalty to Williams was because officials were irked after he jumped into the bench after scoring. McCarty explained it. “We started that — jumping in the bench — a couple years ago, it was our captain. Maybe that ref has never been here before, but we used to do it. It sparks the team, gets morale up on the bench. We were all over them after that.”

The team’s power-play woes ran deep. Lindsay went two for three with the man advantage, while the Preds were zero for seven. “The power play wasn’t good. We didn’t get traffic in front of the net, I mean we had six shots, but they were all 100% visible, and their goalie is good.”

Predators head coach Brendan O’Grady was displeased with Sunday’s efforts. For Port Hope to get a foothold on first place in the Ruddock Division, winning Sunday was more than imperative. “I don’t think the guys were ready to go. That’s pretty sad when one of the top teams in the country is coming into our barn, and then come out and play nine minutes good and then get soft. Guys were soft on the puck, Lindsay is one of the top 10 teams in Canada and we needed to battle harder, compete harder and the guys just aren’t getting there.”

In the last little while, O’Grady has mentioned concern with the team’s lack of shots on goal.

“A lot of them them want the highlight reel goal, and the reality of it is, you have to get the pucks on net, and go hard. The league is so close, and any team can beat any team on any night, and we weren’t prepared. If we want to be a third-place hockey team, that’s fine, but they should want to be a first-place hockey team, especially in our rink.”

After losing their first game to Lindsay on the road, which is O’Grady’s hometown, he said the team “always has something to prove. You don’t want to fail, and it wasn’t certain individuals who were doing it, it was everyone. If we would’ve won that game, we’d be in second place in the division right now, and they knew how important the game was.”

O’Grady said Port Hope’s main weakness Sunday was “not capitalizing. We’re not getting the pucks on net, there’s too much passing, not enough shooting. All the goals count — the ugly ones count, too.”

He said the power play “wasn’t clicking, but to Lindsay’s credit, they were blocking a lot of shots. They’re doing the little things right; we’re not. That’s why they’re in first place and we’re not. It’s not a war zone out there, and Lindsay’s defence made it a war zone. We have to play hard between the whistles, no stick checks in the neutral zone, I mean, you learn that stuff in peewee. It’s becoming a log jam in the middle of the division, and every two points is important. I mean, look at the Ajax-Kingston game.” (Kingston lost to Ajax 9-7 in a tough battle Sunday, which gave Port Hope the chance to move into second had they beat Lindsay.)

Not everything was epically bad for the Preds on the weekend, as McCarty pointed out. “We got four points, and two wins, I would say that’s successful. I mean it would be a lot different if we had lost one of those two games, so it wasn’t all bad.”

O’Grady said new goalie Akos Agardy “is giving us a chance to win, now we have to start helping him out.”

He said younger players like Taylor and Brandon Howes “are doing well, and they’re going to be getting more chances if the older guys can’t do it. They’re starting to contribute more and get more comfortable and I think they’ll really be able to help our hockey club down the stretch.”

The Preds play in Bowmanville Friday and are back home Sunday to face Peterborough.