Greyhounds find confidence in convincing win at home (video, 11 photos)

Confidence has been tough to come by for the Soo Greyhounds of late, but it's safe to say they got a little bit back on Friday night.

Riding a five-goal second period, the Greyhounds picked up a 9-3 Ontario Hockey League win over the Saginaw Spirit at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

Following a 2-1 loss to the Spirit on Tuesday night, a number of veterans talked about needing to step up and the veterans did so in a big way on Friday.

Rory Kerins, Cole MacKay, Robert Calisti, and Jack Thompson combined for 14 points in Friday’s victory.

“We talked after the last loss about missing a little bit of the swagger and a little bit of confidence and holding our sticks too tight,” said Greyhounds coach John Dean. “Anytime you can put up nine goals, it’s an instant injection of confidence into the entire group.”

Dean added that the second period helped take some of the pressure off as well.

“We had a couple no-doubters, a couple great shots and guys playing with some energy and excitement and swagger,” Dean said.

“We certainly capitalized on our chances, and we haven’t been able to do that in a while,” Dean added.

Dean also said the performance “takes some pressure off and it’s just a renewed sense of self.”

Kerins added that “we needed a no-doubter win for sure.”

“We needed it for sure to catapult us for next game,” Kerins said. “With the team we have, those three-game stretches feel like a really long time.”

Calisti agreed that the win takes some of the pressure off.

“Coming into this weekend and the last (few) games of the year, you try to build and try to peak at the right time,” Calisti said. “It’s a step in the right direction.”

Spirit head coach Chris Lazary had little to say following the loss.

“We just got embarrassed 9-3, what do you want me to say,” Lazary said when asked about the second period in the loss.

Asked what the difference in the game was, Lazary responded “I don’t know. We’ll have to go back and look at the video and figure that out.”

The Greyhounds opened the scoring 45 seconds in as a shot from the right point by Thompson was stopped by Spirit goaltender Brett Fullerton before deflecting in off Tyler Savard, who was driving the net on the play.

Saginaw got on the board at 12:43 when Nick Wong beat Greyhounds goaltender Tucker Tynan from the slot high glove side. The goal came after a turnover at the Greyhounds blueline.

Kerins made it 2-1 Greyhounds in the final minute of the opening period when he took a turnover by Josh Bloom near the Sault blueline down the left wing and beat Fullerton high glove side from the right faceoff circle.

Rookie forward Bryce McConnell-Barker made it 3-1 Greyhounds at 4:08 of the second period when he took a back-door pass from Tye Kartye and beat Fullerton.

The Greyhounds then scored on back-to-back shifts to make it 5-1.

Thompson beat Fullerton high stick side from the slot on the power play at 7:44 and then rookie defenceman Connor Toms extended the lead further by beating Fullerton from the left circle at 8:12

Saginaw defenceman Pacey Schlueting made it 5-2 at 8:50 when he beat Greyhounds goaltender Samuel Ivanov from the right circle and Pavel Mintyukov made it 5-3 when he beat Ivanov with a shot from the high right circle at 9:17.

The Greyhounds went up 6-3 when Calisti beat Fullerton high stick side on a breakaway at 9:53.

Calisti proceeded to make it 7-3 at 19:43 when he took a pass in the slot from Jordan D’Intino and beat Fullerton.

In the third period, Kirill Kudryavtsev made it 8-3 at 3:38 when he beat Fullerton high short side from the left circle.

MacKay made it 9-3 Greyhounds at 11:58 when he redirected a pass at the top of the crease from Thompson past Fullerton.

Tynan left the game due to injury with just over four minutes to go in the opening period after stopping six of seven shots.

Dean said following the game the injury was an upper body injury, which got treated at the rink.

Dean added that Tynan could have gone back into the game if needed.

“We didn’t want to risk it and we didn’t want to be juggling goaltenders,” Dean said.

Ivanov entered the game and stopped 14 shots the rest of the way.

Kerins and Thompson each finished the night with four points. Both had a goal and three assists for the Greyhounds.

Calisti had two goals and an assist while MacKay had a three-point night with a goal and two assists.

Kudryavtsev also had a multi-point night for the Greyhounds with a goal and an assist. 

Calem Mangone assisted on a pair of goals for Saginaw.

Fullerton made 32 saves for the Spirit.

With the win, the Greyhounds improve to 34-21-6-1. With 75 points, the Greyhounds sit six behind the Flint Firebirds for second in the OHL’s West Division. Flint was also in action on Friday, picking up a 3-1 win over the London Knights.

Saginaw falls to 21-40-1-0 with the loss.

After a day off on Saturday, the Greyhounds return to action on Sunday afternoon at home against the Sarnia Sting.

Notes: The game was delayed in getting started after a power outage in the downtown core that affected the rink.

The outage, which saw power come back on shortly before 7 p.m., led to a puck drop happening shortly after 8 p.m.

Dean said the players handled the delay well.

“We had so much on our minds that I don’t think what happened before the game had any impact,” Dean said. “We were already on pins and needles with all that’s happened in the past three games. What time the game started or all of the distractions that happened before had no bearing or impact on the group.”

Defenceman Ryan O’Rourke missed Friday’s game while serving the second of a two-game suspension following a slew-foot penalty last weekend against Windsor.

Rookie forwards Marco Mignosa and Ethan Montroy each remain out due to injury for the Greyhounds.

Saginaw played Saturday’s game minus veteran goaltender Tristan Lennox, who was injured following a collision in a game against the Owen Sound Attack in early March.

Saginaw was also without veteran forward Dalton Duhart, who missed the game due to a non-COVID-related illness.