A solid start and a flurry of goals late lifted the Soo Greyhounds to a big win at home as the Ontario Hockey League regular season winds down this week.
The Greyhounds scored three times in the first period before adding five more goals in the third period in an 8-1 victory over the Saginaw Spirit at the Essar Centre on Wednesday night. The win opens a three-game homestand for the club that will bring the regular season to a close on Sunday.
“We talked about setting the tone and setting the pace of the game and we did a good job of doing that early on in the game,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister. “We wanted to make sure that if we got up, we didn’t let them back in the game. We knew they would be a desperate hockey team and if we let them sit around, it would give them an opportunity to get into the game.”
In addition to a pair of power play goals on three man advantages in the win, the Greyhounds also held the Spirit off the scoresheet on their six power plays in the contest. The kills included a lengthy 5-on-3 in the second period.
“Our penalty kill, especially on the five-on-three, did an excellent job,” Bannister said.
“Joe (Cirella) has spent some special attention to going over it with the guys again,” Bannister added when talking about the Saginaw two-man advantage. “We didn’t get spread out and when you’re in that position, you have to block shots. It’s not an easy job to do but they did it.”
Morgan Frost paced the Greyhounds with a goal and two assists while Barrett Hayton set up three goals.
Jack Kopacka scores a pair of goals while Hayden Verbeek, Boris Katchouk and Taylor Raddysh had a goal and an assist each.
Jordan Sambrook and Conor Timmins also scored for the Greyhounds.
Goaltender Tyler Johnson made 21 saves.
Bannister was pleased with the Greyhounds ability to control the puck in the game, making it easier to defend the Spirit when the visitors took control of the puck.
“We defended well but the biggest thing for me was the way our forwards were coming back,” Bannister said. “We wore (Saginaw) down and where we separated was the back-pressure that we had from our forwards.
“We were either able to strip pucks or they were forced to dump pucks because they were tired,” Bannister added. “We were able to go back and get pucks and continue our attack. We did a really good job with that.”
Saginaw goaltender Evan Cormier made 31 saves while Ryan Stepien had the lone goal for the Spirit.
“They score early and got up 3-0 and then we started forcing some things,” said Saginaw Coach Troy Smith. “Full credit to them. They came and played hard on us.
The goaltending situation for the Greyhounds for the final two games of the regular season is expected to see Matthew Villalta start Friday night against Flint with Johnson getting the start Sunday afternoon against London.
With positioning already locked up, Bannister left the decision with the players in regards to sitting out on the weekend for rest.
“I give the option to the players,” Bannister said. “I don’t force anybody to sit out. If they feel they need the rest, they can take it.”
“I talked to guys about tonight and everybody wanted to play,” Bannister also said. “There could be an opportunity that we do (have players sit out), but it’s totally up to the players that we’ve talked to about it.”
The Greyhounds head into the weekend with a 54-7-2-3 record.
Meanwhile, Saginaw is in the midst of a battle for playoff positioning in the OHL’s Western Conference. With a 29-29-8-0 record, Saginaw sits in eight in the conference but remains ties with the Windsor Spitfires with 66 points. The Spitfires have the tiebreaker with more wins. Saginaw and Windsor sit one point behind the sixth seeded Guelph Storm.
In other action around the league on Wednesday night, in Flint, Alan Lyszczarczyk had two goals and an assist as the Owen Sound Attack beat the Flint Firebirds 7-1. Ethan Szypula and Brett McKenzie had a goal and two assists each while Daylon Groulx also had a pair of goals.
In Kingston, Domenico Commisso had a pair of goals as the Oshawa Generals beat the Kingston Frontenacs 7-4. Cliff Pu had two goals for Kingston.
In Sarnia, shootout goals by Jordan Ernst and Drake Rymsha were the difference as the Sarnia Sting beat the Kitchener Rangers 4-3. Sarnia goaltender Justin Fazio made 30 saves and stopped three of Kitchener’s four shooters in the shootout.