The Soo Greyhounds offensive attack was on display on Saturday night.
The Greyhounds scored five times on 12 shots in the third period Saturday en route to a 7-4 Ontario Hockey League victory over the Mississauga Steelheads at the Essar Centre.
With the game tied at four in the third period, the Greyhounds would strike for three goals, one into an empty net in the final six minutes of the contest to improve to 37-3-2-1 and continue a stretch that has seen the team go unbeaten in regulation time in 29 games.
“It felt in the room like it was a matter of time that things might open up and we would start getting some bounces,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister.
“We have a lot of depth throughout that can score and certainly it showed tonight,” Bannister also said.
Taylor Raddysh continued his hot start with the Greyhounds since being acquired from the Erie Otters last weekend.
The veteran forward scored a pair of goals and assisted on three others to give him nine points in three games with his new club.
Morgan Frost chipped in with a pair of goals while Boris Katchouk assisted on three goals to give the Greyhounds top line another big night offensively. Jordan Sambrook, acquired from Erie with Raddysh, assisted on a pair of goals.
Mac Hollowell added a goal and an assist while Tim Gettinger and Barrett Hayton also scored.
Greyhounds goaltender Matthew Villalta made 21 saves.
Trailing 3-2 through 40 minutes, Bannister didn’t have an issue with the Greyhounds play in the opening 40 minutes.
“I had no issue with the way we played at all,” Bannister said. “We had a couple of miscues that ended up in the back of our net and we didn’t capitalize on ours. The puck was bouncing on us a little bit and we were a little bit off but in the third period it changed.”
“Overall, we played well,” Bannister also said.
The game saw the Greyhounds get some revenge on the Steelheads, who snapped the Greyhounds 23-game winning streak on Jan. 4 in Mississauga.
Steelheads Coach James Richmond said the Greyhounds are the best team he’s seen in the league “by far.”
Owen Tippett scored a pair of goals to pace Mississauga offensively. Michael McLeod and Michael Little chipped in with a goal and an assist for the Steelheads.
Mississauga goaltender Jacob Ingham made 22 saves.
“I liked the way we played for two periods,” Richmond said.
“We led three times in the game and we can’t turn the puck over,” Richmond added. “But it wasn’t the young kids that were turning the puck over, it was the guys that should know better. You give a team like that too many chances, they’re going to beat you.”
The loss drops Mississauga’s record to 18-23-0-1.
The Greyhounds now prepare for a pair of road games, both against divisional opponents, next weekend beginning on Friday night in Sarnia against the Sting, who sit second in the OHL’s West Division behind the Greyhounds.
In other games around the OHL, in Kingston, Max Jones had a goal and two assists as the Kingston Frontenacs beat the Oshawa Generals 4-1. Linus Nyman chipped in with a pair of goals while Gabriel Vilardi assisted on three goals for Kingston.
In Erie, Johnny Corneil scored a pair of goals as the Niagara IceDogs beat the Erie Otters 5-3. Matthew Philip and Elijah Roberts assisted on a pair of goals each for Niagara.
In Hamilton, Brandon Saigeon scored at 19:09 of the third period to give the Hamilton Bulldogs a 4-3 win over the Flint Firebirds. Nicholas Caamano chipped in with a pair of goals while Arthur Kaliyev and MacKenzie Entwistle assisted on two goals each for Hamilton.
In Peterborough, Logan DeNoble had a goal and three assists as the Peterborough Petes beat the Ottawa 67’s 6-2. Nikita Korostelev had two goals and an assist for Peterborough while Christopher Paquette also had a pair of goals. Semyon Der-Arguchintsev assisted on three Petes goals.
In Saginaw, Logan Stanley had a goal and an assist while Giovanni Vallati and Rickard Hugg assisted on a pair of goals as the Kitchener Rangers beat the Saginaw Spirit 5-3.
In Barrie, Christian Propp made 19 saves as the North Bay Battalion blanked the Barrie Colts 3-0. Matthew Struthers had a goal and an assist to pace the Battalion offensively.