Late struggles waste dominant start for Greyhounds

It was a stark contrast from the previous two meetings between the two clubs.

After outscoring the Flint Firebirds by an 18-6 margin in their first two games, the Soo Greyhounds gave up four third period goals in a 6-3 Ontario Hockey League loss to the Firebirds Wednesday night at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

The disappointment was evident following the loss in a game that saw the Greyhounds carry the play early before the Firebirds worked their way back into the game.

“We clearly don’t know how to win yet,” said Greyhounds coach John Dean. “We played 35 minutes of great hockey and, for whatever reason, we couldn’t find the twine and we started cheating and got away from it. We made two absolutely horrible mistakes for two goals and then a pre-scout on their faceoff, we make a horrible mistake and now their team has life.”

“You can’t allow teams back into games,” Dean added. “You have to believe that what you’re doing over 60 minutes is going to find success for your team. We didn’t score goals and guys started cheating.”

Dean also said that the loss wasn’t a case of the Greyhounds taking the Firebirds lightly after two lopsided wins earlier this season.

“We dominated the first 35 minutes,” Dean said.

“We had lapses in the game and their team is a much better team than they were at the start of the year,” added forward Julian Fantino. “They got some good guys back and they capitalized on our lapses in the game tonight.”

Avoiding the lapses comes with some seemingly simple fixes for the Greyhounds.

“It’s sticking to the system and trusting it for a full 60 minutes,” Fantino said. “Not cheating for offence and being on the right side of the puck.”

In the end, the feeling for Dean was pretty simple.

“Super disappointed,” Dean said. “There’s nothing to talk about other than don’t be greedy and don’t make horrible mistakes.”

“This one bothers me,” Dean also said.

For the Firebirds, the third period was a solid finish to a game in which they struggled early on.

“It was a great third period for the most part,” said Firebirds coach Paul Flache. “We rode (goalie Nathan Day) far too much in the first. We just didn’t manage the puck very well, didn’t stick to our game plan, and let them play with the puck too much.”

“We got to our game a little bit late in the second period and in the third we started to play a little better,” Flache added.

Flint opened the scoring as Jeremy Martin took a pass at the side of the goal from Gavin Hayes below the goalline and beat Greyhounds goaltender Landon Miller 2:43 into the contest.

The Greyhounds tied the game as Brenden Sirizzotti scored on a rebound in tight after Andrew Gibson's initial point shot was stopped by Day at 18:42.

Justin Cloutier made it a 2-1 game at 8:06 of the second period as he skated down the right wing and beat Day high short side.

Connor Clattenburg proceeded to make it a 3-1 game as he took a pass in the slot from Cloutier down low and beat Day high stick side at 11:42.

Flint pulled to within one when Zacharie Giroux took a pass on a 2-on-1 from Coulson Pitre and beat Miller high stick side to make it a 3-2 game with just under seven minutes to go in the second period.

Giroux tied the game with his second of the night at 1:03 of the third period when he took a pass from Pitre on a faceoff win. Giroux proceeded to beat Miller glove side on the play.

Flint took the lead with 6:58 to go in regulation when Nathan Aspinall took a pass in tight from Rylan Fellinger and beat Miller.

Tristan Bertucci and Braeden Kressler capped off the scoring with a pair of empty net goals late.

Cloutier had a goal and an assist for the Greyhounds while Gibson assisted on a pair of goals for the Greyhounds.

Miller stopped 20 shots for the home side.

Day was solid throughout the game, stopping 36 shots in the victory.

“Just solid,” Flache said of Day in the win. “Looks very calm, big, swallows his rebounds. He just looks very calm and composed, even in high-pressure moments, he just seems to swallow things up.”

In addition to the two-goal night from Giroux, Bertucci and Kressler had a goal and an assist each. Pitre added a pair of helpers.

The Greyhounds will hit the road for a pair of games this weekend on a trip that will take the team to Saginaw on Friday night to face the Spirit before a return meeting with the Firebirds on Saturday night in Flint.

Following the weekend games, Dean and rookie forward Brady Martin are slated to leave for the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in P.E.I. on Monday.

Martin, who has been out since opening night due to a lower body injury, is nearing a return to play with the tournament on the horizon.

Dean said last weekend there was a possibility that the rookie forward could have dressed for Wednesday’s game against the Firebirds. The hope is to get Martin into at least one of the games on the weekend before making the trip east.