Greyhounds beat Sting to open homestand

The Soo Greyhounds three-game homestand opened on an offensive note on Wednesday night at the Essar Centre.

In all, 10 different players had at least a point as the Greyhounds beat the Sarnia Sting 8-3, improving to 9-1-0-2 in the process. The win also extends the Greyhounds unbeaten streak in regulation time to six games in which the team has posted a 5-0-0-1 record.

The Greyhounds took complete control of the game in the second period when Sarnia forward Bryan Moore took a hooking penalty and was hit with an unportsmanlike conduct penalty after arguing the initial call. The Greyhounds scored on both ends of the power play to take a 4-3 lead.

“It certainly gave us an opportunity to regain control of the game,” said Greyhounds coach Sheldon Keefe of the power play. “There certainly was a lot of game left and we were, despite a little meltdown there, still in control of the game, just not necessarily on the scoreboard. That opened the door for us to go out and get the spark. If they take the penalties and we go out and lay an egg, it’s not really much of a spark for us.”

“I think what took something out of them was the fact that we tied it,” said Keefe. “We were in control of the game and controlling the play but they found a way to get a 3-1 lead. It was almost like when we tied it they said ‘How are we going to get control back?’I got that sense. It felt like, despite being down 3-1, we deserved better and they were probably relieve to e up 3-1.”

Sarnia coach Trevor Letowski called the penalties the turning point of the game.

“It’s definitely the turning point of the game,” said Letowski. “We were right there. It hurt. We were up 3-1 and then, all of sudden we’re down 4-3. It’s tough. We knew we had to be at our best and need everybody going. We knew that the Sault had been playing well and playing with pace. We saw that in the first period and we weathered it. I was happy with our response at the beginning of the second period. We just couldn’t get a kill when we needed it.”

Michael Bunting scored three goals and also had an assist for the Greyhounds in the win. Jorgen Karterud added two goals and an assist while Tyler Gaudet and Andrew Fritsch chipped in with a goal and two helpers each. Patrick Watling had a goal and an assist. Sergey Tolchinsky set up three goals while Kyle Jenkins assisted on a pair of goals.

“The nice thing that’s starting to develop here is that we’re scoring goals throughout our lineup,” said Keefe.

Greyhounds goaltender Matt Murray stopped 19 shots in the win.

“We did a lot of good things,” said Keefe. “I still wasn’t happy with how we managed the puck at important times and turned it over. We forced the issue a little too much. That’s the big thing for us is to start managing the game and the puck a little bit better and not force the issue.”

Moore scored a pair of goals for Sarnia in the loss. Noah Bushnell had the other Sarnia goal while goaltender Taylor Dupuis stopped 39 shots.

“In the first period, we felt kind of fortunate to come out of that with a tie,” said Sting coach Trevor Letowski. “They were coming at us and to come out of it tied at one, we were pretty lucky.”

The Greyhounds return to action Friday night when they host the Belleville Bulls in a 7:07 p.m. start at the Essar Centre.

Photos courtesy Kenneth Armstrong