Players can give you a good indication of what you can expect early in a hockey game.
On Saturday night, the Soo Greyhounds used a strong opening period to pick up a 6-3 Ontario Hockey League playoff victory at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
The win pulls the Greyhounds even in the Western Conference quarterfinal series between the two clubs after Owen Sound won the series opener in overtime on Thursday night.
After a slow start in the series opener, the Greyhounds opened up a 4-1 lead through 20 minutes on Saturday night.
“Your players give you a pretty good indication of what’s going to happen during a game,” Dean said. “I don’t think they were very happy with their performance (in game one). Even when we looked at the game tape, we didn’t think it was too bad other than the start.
“They let everybody know that this isn’t the way it’s going to be done and we’re going to come out and play a full 60 minutes,” Dean added.
There are some things to work on heading into game three in Owen Sound on Monday night despite the game two win for the Greyhounds.
“We had a lot of chances to score,” Dean said. “If we maybe bare down on our chances a little bit more, maybe we could have scored a few more and given ourselves a little bit more wiggle room.
“Save for five minutes in the second period, I liked our game,” Dean added. “I still think we need to limit some of the chances against. When we have good zone time against them, we have a tendency to give up a chance against sometimes quickly thereafter.”
“We knew they were going to have a massive push coming out and they did,” said Owen Sound coach Alan Letang. “Sometimes when you’re young, you think the push is coming but you don’t really know how hard it’s coming. They jumped on us really quick there.”
After Owen Sound scored a pair of goals in the second period 56 seconds apart to make the score 4-3, the Greyhounds rebounded in the third period and capped off the win with a pair of late goals for insurance.
“We could have really panicked in the third period,” Dean said.
“That five minutes could have been really tough, and our guys could have crumbled but our guys came out in the third period and said, ‘We’re going to stick to what we’re doing well,’” Dean also said.
Letang called Saturday’s game a moral victory in a sense as the game was 4-3 until late in the final period.
“If we’re talking moral victories, I’ll talk maybe next season or the season after when your team takes that giant leap,” Letang said. “Three weeks ago, when we were down 4-1, we probably would have lost the game 7-1 or 6-1. We probably would have just packed up and gone home. To see these kids buckle down and face that adversity and continue to push and continue to block shots and continue to chip away and find a way to work themselves back into the game is a moral victory. It’s a huge stride for our group.”
Owen Sound goaltender Mack Guzda made 41 saves for the Attack.
“We knew coming in that he has to be one of our MVP’s for the series,” Letang said of the young netminder.
Barrett Hayton had a pair of goals for the Greyhounds while Morgan Frost had a three-point night with a goal and two assists.
Keeghan Howdeshell, Alex Johnston, and Tye Kartye also scored for the Greyhounds while goaltender Matthew Villalta made 18 saves.
Jackson Doherty, Kaleb Pearson, and Sergey Popov scored for the Attack.
“They’re extremely resilient,” Dean said of the Attack through two games. “They stick to their game plan. They’re structured and they’re very good at capitalizing on mistakes with their speed through the neutral zone. They’ve been a heck of an opponent.”
Game three is Monday at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre in Owen Sound with game four set for Wednesday night, also in Owen Sound, before the series shifts back to Sault Ste. Marie for game five on Friday night.
In other action around the OHL on Saturday night, in St. Catharines, the North Bay Battalion evened their series with the Niagara IceDogs at one with a 5-2 victory in game two. Mason Primeau had a goal and two assists for the Battalion while goaltender Christian Propp made 43 saves.
In Saginaw, Damien Giroux had two goals and an assist as the Saginaw Spirit beat the Sarnia Sting 5-1 to take a 2-0 series lead over the Sting. Owen Tippett chipped in with a goal and two assists for Saginaw.
In Sudbury, David Levin had the overtime winner as the Sudbury Wolves took a 2-0 series lead over the Mississauga Steelheads with a 3-2 victory. Levin finished the night with a pair of goals. Wolves goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 39 shots, including 14 in the third period and seven more in overtime.