MIDDLESEX TWP — Butler hockey coach Patrick Hammonds talked about being consistent throughout the peaks and valleys of the season.

How his team responds from the current valley it's in will determine how the Golden Tornado's Class AAA playoff seeding will shake out.

Butler, which lost 5-0 to Canon-McMillan Monday night at Ice Connection, has dropped two straight to top five teams.

The Golden Tornado also lost 5-2 to Bethel Park last Friday.

Butler (9-5-3) had defeated both teams earlier in the season and have another tough test on next Monday.

Defending PIHL champions Peters Township (13-2-1) is 4-1 in its last five and second overall in points.

“You have to remain even,” Hammonds said. “Every team goes through it, you have to go through it. You have to face adversity to know what kind of effort and focus you need to get to where you want to be.”

The Big Macs, who are tied with the Golden Tornado for the fourth seed with 21 points, looked in control against the Golden Tornado.

Canon-McMillan (10-6-1) didn't allow Butler to get a shot on goal for the first 11 minutes, 30 seconds of the game.

When the Golden Tornado did get through, Big Macs goalie Conor Hartnett didn't allow many second-chance opportunities.

Hartnett made 24 saves. Canon-McMillan coach Terry Virtue wanted his team to be aggressive.

“That's what I've been trying to teach these guys,” Virtue said. “When we play games like that, we're as good as everybody.”

Big Macs forward Brad Folino broke the scoreless deadlock by flipping the puck over Butler goalie Clay Bachman with 12:32 left in the second period.

Jacob McClelland doubled the lead five minutes later, camping out on the backpost and burying a pass from Jack Clendaniel for a power-play goal.

Canon-McMillan outshot Butler 43-24.

“When you don't have the puck, it's pretty hard to be successful,” Hammonds said. “We didn't have the puck enough tonight. Their possession made life difficult for us in terms of line changes and matchups.”

After some sloppy play to start the third period, Virtue called a timeout to settle his team down and remind it to not allow another comeback.

Butler rallied from three goals down to win 7-6 in overtime in November.

“We reminded them we were up 5-2 last time and they came back,” Virtue said. “We had to make sure we didn't have the letdown like the last time we played them.”

Butler survived a scare when Bachman went out to challenge on a two-on-one and crashed into the boards. Hammonds said Bachman's ribs weren't broken and he should be back for next Monday.

Folino put the game out of reach with some hustle. His first shot from the circle was stopped, but the second came back to him and he wristed it into the net with 10:50 remaining.

Colman Slain and Luc Lavella also scored for the Big Macs.

Hammonds said for Butler to reach a peak, the Golden Tornado needs to stay positive.

“We want to get better at our core,” Hammonds said. “This is the time of year we want to see progress from our guys. You want to see them grow and expand beyond the level they were at during the beginning of the year.”