The Port Hope Predators had a two-game home stand over the weekend, losing 4-3 to Bowmanville Friday evening and defeating Whitby 4-3 Sunday in Ontario Junior Hockey League action.

Friday night’s game was a game the Predators could’ve won, should’ve won. Despite being outshot 43-28, newly instated goaltender Akos Agardy turned away a great many pucks throughout the game in net.

Bowmanville opened the scoring as an Eagle fooled Agardy with an unassisted marker early at 3:52 of the first period.

It wasn’t until midway through the frame, at 11:35, that Mitch Moffatt got out of the funk he’s been in and beat Eagles netminder Shea Cooper. Louis-Alex Nadeau and Tyler Miller assisted on the goal.

The second period belonged to Bowmanville, as the Eagles gobbled up two power-play chances, scoring at 2:45 and 10:44 to take a 3-1 lead over the Predators.

The Preds scored their lone power-play goal of the game at 2:25 of the third, as Miller found the back of the net from Jeremy McCarty and Dave Williams.

McCarty and Miller weren’t done yet, and helped Moffatt beat Cooper with his second goal of the game at 6:06.

At 10:13, the Eagles scored their eventual game-winner. For the remainder of the period, the Predators were scrambling to tie it up while the Eagles clawed away, trying to get the insurance goal to put the game out of Port Hope’s reach.

When all was said and done, however, the Preds couldn’t get the puck by Cooper, and the final buzzer went.

Agardy turned away 39 shots, and Miller had a three-point night, but Bowmanville is a team the Preds can beat, and have beaten.

Going into Sunday, it was a whole new ball game (or hockey game) for Port Hope and with two new forwards, Matt Webkamigad and Anthony Tapper. After Sunday’s game, Miller is in fourth place in the league scoring race — yet the Preds were outshot again, this time 41-30. While 30 shots is respectable, Agardy once again stood on his head, and after his opening weekend, posted a .917 save percentage.

Dave Harris stepped up his game Sunday, notching the opening goal of the game at 7:06 from Webkamigad.

That lead would be bolstered early in the second period, as Harris added another marker at 1:27 from Chad McQuaid and rough-and-tumble Jeff Lobman.

Moffatt netted another winner seconds later at 1:56 from the McCarty-Miller tandem, good for Miller’s 27th point of the season.

Whitby finally replied at 5:27, and that would shut down the offensive portion of the second period, which was very quiet in terms of penalties.

Whitby would break the silence at 5:52 of the third to get within one, but Port Hope countered at 15:15, as Danny Greiner got some help from Harris and Webkamigad to checkmate the Whitby Fury.

Whitby scrambled, scoring one at 19:49 with their goalie pulled for the extra man.

But 11 seconds wasn’t quite enough time to trick Agardy again and find the twine, and so it stood with the Preds coming out victorious.

The Predators are plowing through a busy week with two road games tomorrow and Friday evening.