It was an improvement, but not quite enough in the grand scheme of things.
In the end, they’re taking the positives from it considering the way the past three weeks have gone.
They forced overtime with a strong third period, but the Soo Greyhounds dropped a 5-4 Ontario Hockey League decision to the Windsor Spitfires at the WFCU Centre on Thursday night in the opening game of a two-game road trip.
Despite the final result, the mood was more upbeat than it has been during their current losing streak.
“That’s a good game for us tonight,” said Greyhounds coach John Dean. “We’re really happy with our effort and really happy with our pushback.”
“Considering the stretch we’ve been on, it’s tough to find a lot of fault in that game,” Dean added.
It was a game in which they opened up a 3-1 lead through the opening seven minutes of regulation and came back with a goal late in the third period to force overtime against a team that had outscored them 16-8 in their previous two meetings.
“We were really resilient tonight,” said forward Justin Cloutier.
“Every single player brought a full effort,” added forward Julian Fantino.
Asked about the third period, which saw the Greyhounds outshoot the Spitfires by a 13-5 margin and tied the game late, Fantino spoke of the chances the team had.
“We battled for a full 60,” Fantino also said. “We competed hard and stuck to the system and got pucks on net. Their goalie made some key saves. We had lots of chances. It was a good comeback, but we just couldn’t seal the deal in the end.”
Dean said he “loved our first and loved our third.”
“We generated quite a bit in the third period and gave ourselves an opportunity to win that game,” Dean added. “Just the fact that we didn’t sit back. We were aggressive and asserted ourselves and that helped generate opportunities for us to win a hockey game. I saw a team that was enjoying themselves, competing, believing in themselves.”
The Greyhounds opened the scoring 90 seconds in as Mark Duarte found himself alone in tight, jumped on a turnover and proceeded to slide the puck past Windsor starter Mathias Onuska 5-hole.
Matthew Maggio tied the game for Windsor when he took a loose puck in close and slide it past Greyhounds goaltender Charlie Schenkel 5-hole after Jacob Maillet couldn’t get a shot off in close initially at 5:21.
Cloutier made it a 2-1 game on the next shift as he redirected a pass in tight from Duarte past Onuska. The goal came 18 seconds after Windsor tied the game.
On a delayed penalty, Fantino gave the Greyhounds a 3-1 lead 49 seconds after Cloutier’s goal when he took a pass in the slot from Connor Clattenburg and beat Onuska high stick side.
Noah Morneau pulled Windsor back to within one midway through the period when he deflected a point shot from Anthony Cristoforo high glove side at 10:49.
With 1:24 to go in the period, Ryan Abraham tied the game for the Spitfires when he beat Schenkel with a one-timer from the slot stick side on Schenkel on a pass from Michael Renwick on the left wing.
Windsor took a 4-3 lead just 18 seconds into the second period when Maillet finished off a three-way passing play by redirecting a pass in close from Maggio in the left faceoff circle past Schenkel. Maggio hit Maillet after taking a pass from Brett Harrison.
The Greyhounds forced overtime when Kalvyn Watson knotted things up at four with 2:32 to go in the third. Watson skated the puck into the Windsor zone and stickhandled his way past Windsor defenceman Jacob Holmes in the slot before beating Onuska 5-hole to make it a 4-4 game.
The Spitfires carried the play in the extra frame, outshooting the Greyhounds 4-0 with the winner coming off the stick of Rodwin Dionicio, who went to the net on a 2-on-1 and redirected a pass from Oliver Peer past Schenkel 1:59 into the extra frame.
Fantino paced the Greyhounds offensively with a goal and two assists.
Duarte added one of each in the loss, but missed the overtime frame after a shot in the final seconds of regulation time hit him near the Windsor net. The overage forward was in considerable discomfort heading to the dressing room prior to the overtime period.
Dean said Duarte’s injury didn’t appear to be serious and the overage forward could be available to play on Friday.
Schenkel made 28 saves for the Greyhounds.
Maillet had a goal and a pair of assists for Windsor offensively while Maggio added one of each.
Harrison also had a pair of assists for the Spitfires.
Onuska made 29 saves.
The Greyhounds return to action on Friday night in Saginaw against the Spirit before returning home to host the Sarnia Sting on Sunday afternoon.
Agreeing that Thursday’s game was the best they’ve played in weeks, Dean added “the important thing is, you can’t play one game and then take the next night off.
Dean called the Saginaw game “a real big test.”
The team will take a 14-22-8-5 record into Friday’s contest and sit three points behind the Kitchener Rangers for the final playoff spot in the OHL’s Western Conference. The Rangers have two games in hand on the Greyhounds and are slated to return to action on Friday night as well when they host the Hamilton Bulldogs.
Windsor improves to 34-12-3-1 with Thursday’s victory and move three points ahead of the London Knights for top spot in the Western Conference. The Knights have a pair of games in hand on the Spitfires, who have won six straight.
Prior to the game, the Greyhounds announced the signings of forward Tate Vader and defenceman Spencer Evans.
Vader was the Greyhounds fifth round pick in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection while Evans was selected in the sixth round.
With the injury situation for the Greyhounds, both players made their OHL debuts Thursday night.
Alex Kostov was the latest player to join the injured list for the Greyhounds after taking a hit on Sunday against the Mississauga Steelheads.
Christopher Brown sat out on Thursday as well, missing his second consecutive game after suffering an injury on the road last week.
Andrew Gibson, Ethan Montroy, Owen Allard, and Connor Toms also remain out for the Greyhounds.