They met less than a week ago in a game that the Soo Greyhounds felt was embarrassing.
The hope was that the team would use a 9-4 loss on Sunday afternoon to the Windsor Spitfires as some motivation.
On Thursday night against the same Spitfires squad, the Greyhounds gave up five goals in the first period in a 7-4 Ontario Hockey League loss at Windsor’s WFCU Centre.
Overage forward Kalvyn Watson called the start frustrating.
“When you have a first period the way we had one today, it’s frustrating,” Watson said. “We didn’t show up to play and it showed that early when we got down. We had a good 40 minutes there, but that’s not enough if we want to compete with a top team like that.”
Veteran forward Marco Mignosa said part of the issue in the opening 20 was “we weren’t too tight in our D zone.”
While the final two periods was a positive in a game that saw the Greyhounds scored three times over the final two periods to turn a game that appeared to be a route into something much closer, coach John Dean said his team looked “passive and timid” in the opening period.
“We looked like we were thinking the game too much and not trying to dictate pace,” Dean said.
Asked if he thought the start was a carryover from Sunday’s loss, Dean agreed.
“It’s in the back of your head. That team just scored nine on you,” Dean said. “We’re clearly going through a rough patch here and we need to instill confidence in the group that as long as we play a hard, competitive game, we’re going to give ourselves chances to win every night.”
Watson said he felt the start was part of a trend for the team, which has struggled early in games at times this season.
“Slow starts have been a theme with our team over the course of the year regardless (of the previous game),” Watson said.
Dean said the final two periods was a marked improvement over the opening period.
“Guys started paying the price and put their bodies on the line for their teammates,” Dean said of the final two periods.
“It really carried,” Dean added. “The guys on the bench got excited and we started celebrating the right things, the simple things and we started dictating pace.”
Both Watson and Mignosa agreed that the Greyhounds play over the final two periods is something the team can take into a game on Friday in Sarnia.
“It’s super important when you talk about momentum,” Watson said. “The way we played that last 40 against a team like Windsor, that’s definitely something we’ve got to carry into Sarnia and we’re very capable of it.”
“We have to build off that,” Mignosa said of the final two periods.
“Guys were buying in to our team plan here,” Mignosa also said. “We were blocking shots. We were getting shots on net and making offensive plays.”
Windsor opened the scoring in the first period with the teams playing four-on-four. Matthew Maggio skated through the high slot, dodged a check, and then beat Greyhounds goaltender Samuel Ivanov high stick side just under five minutes into the contest.
Oliver Peer made it a 2-0 game at 9:14 when he took a short pass from Noah Morneau after a turnover by Brodie McConnell-Barker in the Sault zone. Peer skated through the high slot and then beat Ivanov glove side.
Shane Wright extended the Windsor lead further at 12:57 when he scored on a rebound in the slot after Alex Christopoulos had his initial shot in tight stopped by Ivanov.
The Greyhounds got on the board 24 seconds later when Alex Kostov scored on a loose puck in tight after a shot by Connor Clattenburg from the right circle was partially blocked.
Windsor restored the three-goal lead 1:25 after the Sault got on the board when James Jodoin beat Ivanov with a point shot glove side through some traffic.
With 1.2 seconds to go in the period Colton Smith made it a 5-1 game as he took a pass in the left faceoff circle, skated toward the goal, and slid a backhand past Ivanov, which ultimately ended the night for Ivanov as Landon Miller entered the game to start the second period.
Smith picked up his second goal of the night 2:02 into the second period when he took a pass in the slot from Peer in the right circle and beat Miller high stick side, completing a three-way passing play started by A.J. Spellacy in the right circle.
After a neutral zone faceoff win, Brenden Sirizzotti skated into the Windsor zone and fed Jordan D’Intino with a pass cross-slot. D’Intino proceeded to beat Michelone stick side to make it a 6-2 game at 6:57.
The Greyhounds cut the lead to 6-3 at 10:13 when Justin Cloutier took a pass in the slot from Julian Fantino and beat Michelone glove side.
While on the power play midway through the third, the Greyhounds cut the Windsor lead down to two as Bryce McConnell-Barker took a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle that handcuffed Michelone glove side at 11:01.
Maggio made it 7-4 with an empty net goal with 3:37 to go in regulation time.
Ivanov made 11 saves in 20 minutes of work for the Greyhounds while Miller stopped 16 of the 17 shots he faced the rest of the way.
Smith had a three-point night for the Spitfires with a pair of goals and an assist while Peer chipped in with a goal and two assists.
Wright finished the game with a goal and an assist in one period before leaving the game for the Spitfires after one period.
Michelone stopped 34 shots for the Spitfires.
The Greyhounds will wrap up their short two-game road trip on Friday night in Sarnia against the Sting before returning home to face the Mississauga Steelheads on Sunday afternoon.
With the loss, the Greyhounds have dropped five in a row and sit at 14-20-7-5 on the season. The team is tied with the Kitchener Rangers for eighth in the OHL’s Western Conference with 0 points though the Rangers have three games in hand.
The two clubs are seven points behind the Flint Firebirds and Guelph Storm, who are currently tied for sixth in the conference.
With the win, Windsor improves to 30-12-3-1 and sit atop the Western Conference standings with 64 points, three ahead of the London Knights. London has a pair of games in hand on the Spitfires.
On the injury front for the Greyhounds, goaltender Charlie Schenkel is nearing a return while Andrew Gibson, Ethan Montroy, Owen Allard, and Connor Toms also remain out.
Clattenburg returned to the Greyhounds lineup on Thursday after serving a two-game league-imposed suspension.
Windsor finished Thursday’s game short a pair of players as Morneau also left the game early in addition to the home team losing Wright early.