Discipline and goaltending turned into a major headache for the Soo Greyhounds in the nation’s capital on Sunday afternoon.
Facing the Ottawa 67’s for the second time in just over a week, the Greyhounds spent much of the early part of the game in the penalty box, which, combined with a solid goaltending performance from Ottawa netminder Collin MacKenzie, meant a disappointing result.
The 67’s skated to a 4-1 victory over the Greyhounds Sunday at TD Place in Ottawa in Ontario Hockey League action.
For Greyhounds coach John Dean, a trio of penalties, one of which was a double minor, played a factor in the game, especially early on.
“Discipline is the story in my mind,” Dean said after the loss. “In the first period, we spent eight minutes in the box, and I thought six of the eight minutes were really poor penalties.”
Dean added that a slashing penalty to defenceman Matthew Virgilio was of particular concern because “we’re on our way on a three-on-two, our guys are playing with speed, suddenly there’s a goal in the back of our net.”
“Very deflating,” Dean added.
“We’ve got to be a lot more disciplined,” added forward Owen Allard. “Taking eight minutes in penalties in the first period really turns the momentum in the game and it wasn’t in our favour. We have to stay disciplined. If we have a different start to the game, maybe it changes the outcome.”
Greyhounds captain Bryce McConnell-Barker felt the team was good at even strength in the period, making the penalties a larger issue.
“It’s tough to feel good about our game when we’re in the box for half the period,” McConnell-Barker said. “Definitely we need to stay more disciplined in that first period.”
“The other 12 minutes of the period, we dominated five-on-five and played well,” McConnell-Barker added.
Dean also said that a one-goal deficit against a team like Ottawa isn’t easy to deal with.
“When you give a team like that a one-goal lead, they’re very comfortable inside that,” Dean also said. "We need to learn how to score goals when teams tighten up.”
Dean said the Greyhounds “had more than enough chances to tie that game up.”
Dean added that not being able to capitalize on a power play in the third period was also an issue.
“We’ve got to capitalize,” Dean said. “We need to great some grade a’s and get some momentum and capitalize on it and we didn’t.”
Dean agreed that MacKenzie was also a factor in the game.
“He was fantastic again,” Dean said. “There’s a part of me that doesn’t like talking about it because we need to find ways to put pucks in the net when we have opportunities and I think we make him look good sometimes too, but you have to give credit where credit is due.”
Dean said the recent losses to the 67’s, which included a 2-1 loss in the Sault on Oct. 13, have provided a number of lessons for his team.
“All three of their goals were a result of small details that didn’t catch up to us in previous games,” Dean said. “Come playoff time when we play teams like this and pre-scouts will be out on us and the play is really tight in the D-zone and really locked down (in) the middle, you’re going to have to play this way in these tight games. Every shift, every step you make matters.”
Ottawa opened the scoring on the power play when Brady Stonehouse skated into the left circle, took a pass from Brad Gardiner and beat Greyhounds goaltender Charlie Schenkel stick side 12 minutes into the game.
The 67’s built on the lead in the middle stanza when Kaleb Lawrence got in behind the Greyhounds defence, took a pass from Charlie Hilton near the Sault blueline and proceeded to beat Schenkel stick side 1:55 into the period.
The Greyhounds got on the board in the late stages of the second period thanks to a power play goal. Rookie defenceman Arttu Karki took a cross-ice pass in the right faceoff circle from Jack Beck and beat Ottawa netminder Collin MacKenzie with a one-timer with 1:50 to go in the period.
After Ottawa held off a late surge by the Greyhounds to end the second period, Lawrence picked up his second goal of the day to make it a 3-1 game in the third. The veteran forward jumped on a loose puck in the slot and beat Schenkel from in traffic at 13:15 to extend the Ottawa lead.
With Schenkel on the bench for an extra attacker late, Brad Gardiner sealed the win with 20 seconds to go, sending the puck down the ice after a scramble near the Ottawa goal and scoring into the empty Sault goal to cap off the scoring in the game.
Schenkel made 21 saves for the Greyhounds in the loss.
In addition to the two-goal day for Lawrence, Gardiner had a goal and an assist for the 67’s in the victory.
MacKenzie stopped 40 of the 41 Sault shots he faced in the contest.
The Greyhounds are slated to return to action at home on Wednesday night with a game against the Flint Firebirds at the GFL Memorial Gardens before heading out on the road for a pair of games.
The trip will see the team take on the Saginaw Spirit at the Dow Event Center on Oct. 27 before facing Flint the following night at the Dort Financial Center.
Sunday afternoon’s loss drops the Greyhounds record to 7-4-0-0 on the season while Ottawa improves to 5-3-0-0 with the victory.
Following the game, Dean said rookie Brady Martin, who has been out for an extended period with a lower body injury, is getting close to returning.
Dean said Sunday that Martin is expected to skate on Monday and Tuesday and didn’t rule out the rookie playing in Wednesday’s game.
“It’s a possibility,” Dean said.