What was a strength in recent games turned into their downfall on Friday night.
On a night when they had an opportunity to gain valuable points against a divisional opponent, the Soo Greyhounds dropped a 5-4 Ontario Hockey League decision to the Flint Firebirds at the Dort Financial Center in Flint Friday.
In what was the opening game of a three-game road trip that will see the team play three games in three days, the Greyhounds struggled defensively as the Firebirds jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the game was five minutes old en route to the win.
“In the defensive zone, we played a lazy, non-competitive hockey game,” said Greyhounds coach John Dean. “We gave up way too many opportunities out od D-zone coverage, which has been a strength of ours recently.”
Greyhounds captain Bryce McConnell-Barker added that “giving up those two early goals hurt us.”
“This was an important game and obviously it’s really frustrating,” McConnell-Barker also said of falling behind early.”
“We were swinging all over the place,” Dean said of the opening five minutes. “There was no compete. No physicality.”
Dean went on to say, “it was a very difficult first period to watch.”
The positive of the game was the Greyhounds battling back from a two-goal deficit in the third period to tie the game before a late power play goal sealed their fate.
“We were scrappy as usual,” Dean said. “We definitely have a never quit attitude.”
On the offensive side of the puck, Dean said he felt the team “showed some good signs.”
For the Firebirds, the start turned out to be crucial in the game.
“We started really good tonight and had a really good first period,” Flint coach Ted Dent said in an interview with the Firebirds Hockey Network following the win. “We got out ahead and probably could have got some more goals, but their goalie (Samuel Ivanov) played really good and made some big saves.”
“We lost the lead a few times, but stuck with it,” Dent added.
Flint opened the scoring 2:34 in as a loose puck in the slot found its way to Tyler Deline, who proceeded to beat Ivanov high stick side.
Just 2:43 later, Dmitry Kuzmin made it 2-0 Firebirds as he took a pass from Braden Kressler on the right-side boards through the slot. Kuzmin cut to the net from the left side of the slot and slid a backhand past Ivanov.
McConnell-Barker got the Greyhounds on the board at 6:35 when he took a pass from Kirill Kudryavtsev along the blueline, skated in and beat Flint goaltender Will Cranley with a shot from the high slot near the left faceoff circle.
Late in the period, Flint took a 3-1 lead when Tristan Bertucci skated down the left wing after taking a pass from Marko Stojkov and beat Ivanov with a shot high short side from the left faceoff circle at 19:11.
The Greyhounds cut the Flint lead to 3-2 at 14:01 of the second period when Mark Duarte worked the puck down low, skated behind the Flint net, but not before he dropped a pass to Tyler Savard in the left faceoff circle. Savard proceeded to beat Cranley for his third goal of the year.
Flint made it a 4-2 game at 1:22 of the third period on the man advantage when Amadeus Lombardi took a pass at the top of the left circle from Bertucci and beat Ivanov with a shot from the faceoff circle high short side through a block attempt.
The Greyhounds pulled back to within one at 4:49 when Jordan D’Intino beat Cranley with a shot from just inside the right faceoff circle high glove side to make it 4-3 Flint.
McConnell-Barker tied the game at 6:39 with the teams playing four-on-four. After a turnover in the Sault zone, Caeden Carlisle skated into the Flint zone, cut toward the middle of the ice and dropped a pass to McConnell-Barker, who skated into the high slot and beat Cranley
With 3:01 to go in the third and Flint on the power play, Kressler made it 5-4 Firebirds as he beat Ivanov stick side with a one-timer on a pass from Kuzmin.
In addition to the two-goal night for McConnell-Barker, Kalvyn Watson and Andrew Gibson assisted on a pair of goals each for the Greyhounds.
Ivanov made 37 saves for the Sault.
Bertucci, Kressler, Kuzmin, and Lombardi had a goal and an assist each for Flint.
Cranley made 29 saves.
The weekend road trip continues for the Greyhounds on Saturday night in Saginaw against the Spirit before it wraps up on Sunday afternoon against the London Knights.
With Friday’s loss, the Greyhounds fall to 5-6-3-2.
Flint improves to 9-7-1-0 with the victory.