After a night when they gave up 10 goals to a division rival, the Soo Greyhounds rebounded on Saturday night in impressive fashion.
After falling behind 2-0 early, the Greyhounds battled back en route to a 4-2 Ontario Hockey League win over the Sarnia Sting on Saturday at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
It was a game that produced a lot to like for the Greyhounds.
“That’s one of our best games of the year,” said Greyhounds coach John Dean. “That’s probably our most complete game of the year, that’s for sure.
“On both nights, even in the game last night, our bench has been really good, staying positive and believing in what we’re doing instead of changing up the game,” Dean added. “This all goes to the guys; they were incredible tonight.”
Dean added that it was “impressive” the way the team rebounded from Friday’s 10-4 loss to Windsor.
After Sarnia jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening period, the Greyhounds proceeded to score four unanswered goals to pick up the win.
After Tanner Dickinson and Billy Constantinou scored 1:03 apart in the opening period, the Greyhounds proceeded to direct 19 shots at Sarnia goaltender Ethan Langevin in the second period but couldn’t take the lead.
Through just over 13 minutes in the period, the Greyhounds held a 17-1 shot advantage.
“That’s probably our best period of the year,” Dean said. “We limited their chances in the second period so that’s a really good period for us.
“The second period was a lot of fun to watch,” Dean added.
For the Sting, the game didn’t produce many positives.
“In the second period, we didn’t generate anything,” said Sarnia coach Derian Hatcher. “We were bad. There’s not a whole lot I can say. Our second period was atrocious. In the third, we pushed a little bit, but you can’t win games like that.”
The one positive for the Sting was the play Langevin, who made 44 saves in the contest.
“He’s been good for us,” Hatcher said. “(Tonight) he was great. He held us in there and he gave us a chance to win.”
Ryan Roth had a goal and an assist for the Sting while Ryan McGregor also scored.
Billy Constantinou had a goal and an assist for the Greyhounds. Joe Carroll assisted on a pair of goals.
Tanner Dickinson, Rory Kerins, and Tye Kartye also scored for the Greyhounds.
Kerins’ goal came just under six minutes into the third to break a 2-2 tie at the time.
In addition to a good attitude following a second period in which the Greyhounds produced a lot of chances but couldn’t beat Langevin, Dean also spoke of the Greyhounds ability to stay above the puck during battles as a key positive in the game.
“Our guys really worked hard when there were 50-50 battles, our guys worked hard to make sure we were above the puck, not waiting below the puck and hoping that we win that battle,” Dean said. “Tonight, we were above the puck quite a bit when the puck wasn’t bouncing our way and that made a difference.”
Greyhounds goaltender Bailey Brkin made 18 saves.
The win improves the Greyhounds record to 19-18-2-0. With 40 points, the Greyhounds sit in a tie with the Erie Otters for seventh in the OHL’s Western Conference. The two clubs are one point behind the Flint Firebirds.
The Greyhounds return to action on Jan. 10 at home against the Mississauga Steelheads. Puck drop at the GFL Memorial Gardens is 7:07 p.m.
The loss drops Sarnia’s record to 15-19-4-0.
In other action around the OHL on Saturday, in Hamilton, Isaac Nurse had a goal and an assist as the Hamilton Bulldogs beat the Kingston Frontenacs 3-1. After falling behind 1-0 early in the second period, Hamilton scored three unanswered goals, including two in the final two minutes of regulation time, to pick up the win.
In Flint, Luke Evangelista scored at 4:06 of overtime to give the London Knights a 4-3 win over the Flint Firebirds. Jonathan Gruden had a pair of goals for London. Flint goaltender Anthony Popovich stopped 37 shots.
In St. Catharines, Ivan Lodnia scored at 1:26 of overtime as the Niagara IceDogs beat the Kitchener Rangers 7-6. Philip Tomasino had two goals and two assists for Niagara while Lodnia had a goal and three assists. Jonathan Yantsis scored three times for the Rangers.
In Saginaw, Cole Perfetti had a goal and four assists as the Saginaw Spirit beat the Oshawa Generals 8-4. Mason Millman had two goals and an assist while Cole Coskey amd Damien Giroux chipped in with a goal and two assists each. Brett Neumann had two goals and an assist for Oshawa.
In Sudbury, a goal by Luke Boka midway through the second period was the game-winner as the Windsor Spitfires beat the Sudbury Wolves 3-2. Windsor goaltender Xavier Medina stopped 26 shots.
In Barrie, Tyson Foerster had a goal and three assists as the Barrie Colts beat the North Bay Battalion 6-1. Luke Bignell had a pair of goals for Barrie.
In Owen Sound, Sergey Popov had a goal and two assists as the Owen Sound Attack beat the Guelph Storm 7-5. Kaleb Pearson added a pair of goals for the Attack. Eric Uba scored twice for Guelph.