The hope is that they’ve hit rock bottom.
The Soo Greyhounds surrendered five power play goals, including a pair early on, in a 10-2 Ontario Hockey League loss to the Windsor Spitfires on Saturday night at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
It was a game that was tough to find positives from for a Greyhounds team that has lost five straight games and just one win in their past 10 games.
“At some point these guys are going to have to pull their heads up and make a decision on their own that they don’t want to be embarrassed like that again,” said Greyhounds coach John Dean.
“It’s tough to swallow and to see that scoreboard,” Dean also said. “It’s tough to see our response. It’s one of our worst outings of the year for sure.”
Spitfires coach Trevor Letowski called his power play “dynamic” in the game.
“The first two power play goals change the dynamic of the game,” Letowski said.
Trailing 1-0 in the opening period, Jean-Luc Foudy and Luke Boka scored power play goals just under four minutes apart to give Windsor a lead they wouldn’t relinquish in the contest.
“We’re down 1-0 and understand that they’re a fragile group over there and a team that’s used to winning a lot of games,” Letowski said. “When they scored first, it was deflating for us because we had every intention of starting fast and putting the game away. Those power play goals changed the dynamic of the game and we played pretty well from there.”
Boka finished the night with three goals and an assist while Foudy had a pair of goals.
Daniel D’Amico and Connor Corcoran chipped in with a goal and two assists each. Will Cuylle and Matthew Maggio had a goal and an assist each.
Cole Purboo also scored for Windsor.
Spitfires goaltender Kari Piiroinen stopped 18 shots.
Tye Kartye and Jaromir Pytlik scored for the Greyhounds. Rory Kerins assisted on both Sault goals.
Goaltender Christian Propp got the start for the Greyhounds, stopping 11 shots before being pulled after Windsor’s seventh goal.
Ethan Taylor stopped 14 of 17 shots the rest of the way.
“Everything went wrong today,” Dean said. “We weren’t good in their end. We weren’t good in our end.”
The loss drops the Greyhounds record to 6-10-1-0.
The win moved the Spitfires into top spot in the OHL’s West Division with a 10-3-1-0 record and extended Windsor’s winning streak to six games.
“We’ve been playing really well,” Letowski said. “And it’s not just winning, we’ve been playing the right way and playing with some swag.”
The Greyhounds return to action on Nov. 8 on the road against the Sarnia Sting. The weekend road trip takes the Greyhounds to Flint the following night to face the Firebirds.
In other action round the OHL on Saturday night, in Flint, Riley Piercey had a goal and an assist as the Barrie Colts beat the Flint Firebirds 5-1. Arturs Silovs made 37 saves for the Colts.
In Erie, Cedrick Andree made 32 saves as the Ottawa 67’s blanked the Erie Otters 2-0.
In St. Catharines, Nick Isaacson had three goals and an assist as the Mississauga Steelheads beat the Niagara IceDogs 4-2. Tucker Tynan made 41 saves for the IceDogs.
In Saginaw, the game between the Saginaw Spirit and Guelph Storm was postponed due to an ice issue at the Dow Event Center.
In Sudbury, five different players had goals as the Sudbury Wolves beat the Peterborough Petes 5-2. Of the seven goals in the game, six were scored in the third period.
In Owen Sound, Ethan Langevin stopped 40 shots as the Sarnia Sting beat the Owen Sound Attack 4-2. Sam Bitten, Jamieson Rees, and Ryan McGregor had a goal and an assist each for the Sting. Matthew Philip scored both goals for Owen Sound.