Greyhounds special in odd-man situations in road win

Special teams have the ability to make or break games and the Soo Greyhounds learned just that on Sunday.

The Greyhounds scored five times in odd-man situations to pick up a 5-2 win over the Mississauga Steelheads on Sunday at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga.

The team didn’t score a goal at five-on-five in the win as the game saw the team score three times on the power play while adding a goal shorthanded and another with Mississauga’s goaltender on the bench for an extra attacker late in regulation.

After a scoreless opening period, the Greyhounds scored a pair of power play goals and added a shorthanded marker during a stretch in the second period to take the lead in the game.

“It changes the complexion of the game,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said of the stretch. “Coach (Brendan) Taylor made an unbelievable adjustment between periods on their power play, and we go down and score a shorty.”

Overage forward Jordan D’Intino added that the power play markers “changed the momentum of the game.”

“Those three goals were huge for us,” D’Intino added in reference to the second period goals.

After starting the game well, Dean said the team forced things in the opening period after taking a penalty midway through the frame but recovered well in the second period.

“I really liked our response in the second,” Dean said. “We challenged our guys between periods. What does it mean to be a winning team? We have to move our feet before we try to make plays. It looked like in the first period, we were trying a little too hard to be cute, but we took care of that in the second and found a way to close it out in the third.”

Finishing up the road trip with five out of a possible six points was also something Dean and the team reflected on Sunday evening.

“Especially when you give up the point in game one, it puts a lot more pressure on the last two games,” Dean said. “For us to get five out of six is a great weekend and hopefully is a defining weekend for us.”

Dean added that consistency was a factor, specifically in the win over Brantford on Friday and Sunday’s victory.

“For the most part, both games were sixty minutes,” Dean said. “Today’s not a Picasso by any means, but guys are competing, getting above pucks. We mismanaged the puck a bit, but we’re big on getting above pucks, winning fifty-fifty battles and our skill will shine through.”

Veteran defenceman Andrew Gibson added that the overtime loss in the opening game of the trip in Erie on Thursday night was an additional motivator in the final two games.

“It just pushed us to work even harder in the last two games,” Gibson said.

The Greyhounds opened the scoring as Owen Allard deflected a shot by Gibson from the right faceoff circle past goaltender Ryerson Leenders on the power play at 10:19 of the second period.

The Greyhounds took a 2-0 lead as D’Intino beat Leenders with a one-timer from the right circle short side on a pass from Gibson on the power play 1:46 later.

The visitors added a shorthanded marker to take a 3-0 lead as Alex Kostov took a pass in the slot from D’Intino and beat Leenders high stick side at 15:40. The goal came after D’Intino forced a turnover behind the Mississauga net on the forecheck.

The Steelheads fought back in the third period, beginning with a goal by former Greyhound Marc Boudreau, who scored on a rebound in tight at 9:01. The goal came after Greyhounds goaltender Charlie Schenkel stopped a shot from the left circle by Adam Zidlicky initially on the play.

Mississauga made it a one-goal game 4:19 later as Porter Martone beat Schenkel with a shot stick side on a shot from the left circle that appeared to handcuff the Sault netminder on the power play.

The Greyhounds got their third power play goal of the night with 1:49 to go in regulation time as Marco Mignosa scored on a chance in close, giving the veteran forward goals in five consecutive games and 10 points in that stretch.

Dean called the win “another great game for Marco.”

“He’s winning his battles away from the puck. He’s showing a ton of poise with the puck now,” Dean added. “You can see confidence just brimming. The goal he scored today on the power play, not a lot of guys can outwait a goalie like that, and he puts it into an open cage.”

Justin Cloutier capped off the scoring with an empty net goal in the final minute of regulation time.

D’Intino finished the night with a goal and an assist for the Greyhounds while Gibson and Travis Hayes assisted on a pair of goals each.

Schenkel made 24 saves.

“Charlie was great,’ Dean said.

“We’re really happy with Charlie’s progression over the last two weeks and the effort he’s put into his game,” Dean also said.

For Kostov, the shorthanded marker in the second period wound up as the eventual game-winner.

The sophomore forward called it a good feeling getting the winner, specifically with the number of family and friends he had attending the game.

“It felt good,” Kostov said. “I was snakebitten at the start of the season.”

“Especially with all of my family here, it definitely felt good,” Kostov added.

The sophomore forward estimated that he had between 30 and 40 family and friends at Sunday’s game.

Chas Sharpe assisted on both Mississauga goals.

Leenders stopped 36 shots for the Steelheads in the loss.

The Greyhounds return to action on Wednesday night on the road as the team travels to Saginaw to take on the Spirit before opening up a stretch that will see the team play four of its next five games at home, beginning with a Friday night contest against the Spirit.

The Greyhounds improve to 15-7-2-0 with the win and remain in top spot in the OHL’s West Division. The Greyhounds move a point ahead of the London Knights in the overall standings thanks to the victory.

Heading into action on Sunday, the team sat three points ahead of Saginaw for first in the West Division and the standings remained that way following Sunday’s games. The Spirit were also in action on Sunday evening, beating the Niagara IceDogs 6-2. The win extends Saginaw’s winning streak to 10 consecutive games.

Saginaw has two games in hand on the Greyhounds.

Mississauga falls to 14-8-0-0 with the loss, which snaps a modest two-game winning streak.