It was splitsville for Wellington this weekend.

The Wellington Dukes found themselves in a fire fight at home against North York Friday night and persevered 6-5 in overtime. On Sunday in Pickering, offence was at a premium and the locals couldn’t get on track against the host Panthers until the third period. Despite a solid performance from rookie goaltender Royden Smith, Wellington fell 4-1. Wellington is 11-10-6 heading into this week’s lone game, a Sunday home matinee against visiting Oakville.

“It felt like we were really disconnected and we didn’t get rolling until the third period,” Dukes skipper Jacob Panetta said. “To see us battle back in the third was a positive sign but more than that, the play of Royden was spectacular. We were outplayed in the first two periods but we were still in the game because of him.”

Denied

Down 3-0, Zach Carrier’s second in as many games came on the power play at the 12:38 mark and made it a two goal game with 27 minutes to play. Mr. Carrier’s point blast that beat Pickering Panthers netminder Anthony Sciere high to the blocker side went straight to Wellington’s legs.

The Dukes would have another power play shortly thereafter but Mr. Sciere protected his polyester porch with proficiency as the final moments of the second stanza ticked away.

The Dukes outshot the Panthers 13-8 in the third but the locals couldn’t beat the Pickering netminder. Former Oshawa General Ethan Toms sealed the game with an empty netter.

Perseverance

On Friday, Wellington tried to get ahead and stay ahead of the pesky North York Rangers.

The hosts compiled second period leads of 3-1, 4-2, and 5-3 and seemed on the face of it after two periods of play to be cruising to their 11^th victory of the 25-26 campaign. But not so fast.

Wellington’s riverboat gambling ways are getting them into trouble and the trend manifested itself in a collapse Friday night.

“Obviously we like our offence but our puck management in our own end has to be way better,” Mr. Panetta said. “That’s been the main talking point for a while that we need to take the safe plays that are in front of us. Part of that is structural but another part is chemistry and having guys in and out of the lineup.”

Wellington went down 1-0 just ten seconds into the contest. Captain Sacha Trudel fired his 8^th of the season just three minutes later to make it 1-1.

In the second, the Dukes turned in some gritty work in the Rangers end. Mr. Carrier potted his 15^th of the year at 5:21 and then set up Mr. Trudel for the Montreal native’s  second of the night at 9:44 to put Wellington ahead by a pair.

North York’s Brayden Boyle shovelled home his fifth under a minute later to get the Blueshirts to within one but Landon Marleau’s sixth of the season on the powerplay reestablished the Wellington lead.

North York kept pace with a goal at 15:26 but off the ensuing centre-ice faceoff, Mr. Marleau danced into the Rangers’ zone and beat the opposing goalie low for his second of the period.

Wellington was up 5-3 but Mr. Boyle’s second of the game at 12:07 and John Kenney’s 7^th of the year with less than three minutes left in the game made it 5-5 heading to overtime.

In the extra session, Mr. Boyle’s tripping infraction led to a Wellington power play.

Mr. Carrier once again served as the offensive catalyst, setting up defenceman Tristan Williams with just 29 seconds left in the extra frame to win it for the locals.

Home Work

Wellington was due to enjoy a lengthy break in the lead up to Sunday’s home game against the Blades.

“This is a good week to work on special teams, especially the penalty kill. During the season we don’t seem to get enough time to really fine tune it,” the coach said of the layoff.