So much for the old adage “there’s no place like home.”

Home rinks weren’t all that friendly to the Penetang Kings and Alliston Hornets in the opening two games of their Georgian Bay Mid-Ontario Junior C Hockey League playoff series this past weekend.

In the series opener Friday in Alliston, the hometown Hornets lost 2-1 in front of 786 fans.

But the Kings couldn’t use the momentum to their advantage and lost 5-1 in game two, played Sunday evening in Penetanguishene.

“It’s kind of weird the way it works sometimes. I was hoping for a bit better result (on Sunday) at home because we had already lost two games at home in the Fergus series,” said Kings coach Wes Parent, during a post-game interview with The Mirror.

“I don’t think we’ve lost three games at home all season and now we’ve lost three games in a row at home in the playoffs,” added Parent.

As a result of the Sunday defeat, the best-of-seven series is tied 1-1 heading to game three on Wednesday in Alliston.

Game four will be played Friday, at 8:30 p.m., in Penetanguishene.

Sunday, in front of 539 fans, the Kings jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal by Lenny Robillard. Kelly Loughran and Ryan Giesler earned assists.

But the Hornets responded with five unanswered markers. The final two Alliston goals were scored with Kings players sitting in the penalty box.

After holding an 11-4 edge in shots in the first period, the Kings watched the Hornets outshoot them 29-18 over the final 40 minutes of play.

“We got some quality shots in that first period, and out of those l1 shots, we probably had two or three posts as well. Our power play was clicking,” said Parent.

Goalie Jon Porretta came up big for Alliston in the opening period, earning praise from the opposing coach.

“Porretta was just making himself big in the net and we couldn’t get anything past him,” said Parent.

Alliston goals by Brandon Elliott and Kyle McDowell - a mere 15 seconds apart in the third period - provided the Hornets with a two-goal cushion.

“We played with them for over two periods and then there were some mental breakdowns in the third period. Just some little things, faceoffs and making sure we had guys covered going to our net. Normal things that go undetected but not against Alliston. They finish off any little mistakes you make,” said Parent.

Aaron Duval scored an unassisted power-play marker in the third period to lift the Kings to their 2-1 road win on Friday, with Loughran scoring the only other Kings marker in the first period. Duval and Giesler assisted on Loughran’s power-play marker.

“Chris Daniels was the story in game one. He held us in the game in the third period we were able to get the win in that game,” said Parent.