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Leafs prospect scores gorgeous goal before wild line brawl ensues

Stan Temming
After a silky shorthanded goal by Nick Robertson made it 7-2 midway through the third period, quite the line brawl broke out between the Peterborough Petes and Mississauga Steelheads on Saturday night.
After a silky shorthanded goal by Nick Robertson made it 7-2 midway through the third period, quite the line brawl broke out between the Peterborough Petes and Mississauga Steelheads. (@YourTVptbo)

Saturday night was shaping up to be a pretty normal one for Nick Robertson.

The second-round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2019 NHL Draft had found the back of the net twice for his Peterborough Petes and was killing a penalty against the Mississauga Steelheads midway through the third period of an OHL regular season game. After creating a turnover, he raced down the ice with teammate Semyon Der-Arguchintsev. Robertson sent the puck to Der-Arguchintsev — a third-round selection of the Maple Leafs in 2018 — before getting it back, making a gorgeous move and tucking the biscuit into the back of the net.

That’s when things went a little bit sideways.

After Robertson took a shove from Steelheads forward Keean Washkurak, things quickly escalated and within seconds gloves were falling all over the ice at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.

Der-Arguchintsev jumped to the defence of Robertson by knocking Washkurak off his skates with a healthy push. That’s when everyone gathered and squared off.

The result was five pretty healthy scraps and plenty of work for the game’s officials.

While only 22 minutes in penalties — including four fighting majors — were handed out as a result of the madness, the referees assessed a total of five misconducts during that stoppage alone.

Once the final whistle of the Petes’ 10-3 victory blew, the two sides had combined for 49 minutes in penalties and nine misconducts. (You know, just your average night of OHL puck.)

Back to Robertson’s goal for a moment, though.

The stunning shorthanded tally completed his first hat-trick of the season and gave him an OHL-best 16 goals in 14 games. The 18-year-old has put a shot between the pipes in all but three contests so far this season. Simultaneously, Der-Arguchintsev’s assist boosted his total to 20. That put him in a tie for league-best in that department.

Although the two are still a number of years away from making it to the NHL, their budding chemistry is definitely something for Leafs fans to smile about.

Video provided by @YourTVptbo.

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