Greyhounds struggle in road trip finale (Updated)

It wasn’t a good end to the weekend for the Soo Greyhounds.

Looking to bounce back after being shut out for the first time on Friday night in Erie, the Greyhounds dropped a 6-3 decision to the Kitchener Rangers in Kitchener on Sunday afternoon, ending a three-game road trip in the process.

The Rangers fell behind 3-1 and scored five unanswered goals to beat the Greyhounds.

“It was another example of what happens when you play against a team that wants to win more than you do,” said Greyhounds coach Sheldon Keefe. “It was two ends of the spectrum (this weekend) with Erie as one of the top teams in the league, that really wanted to beat us badly and they played that way with that sense of urgency and gave it to us. Then (Sunday), we’re playing against a team that just works hard and makes things hard on you and they clearly wanted to beat us badly today. (Kitchener) just played with a lot more urgency and they played like it mattered a lot more to them.”

The Greyhounds led 2-0 through one period, thanks to goals from Darnell Nurse and Alex Gudbranson and led 3-1 in the latter stages of the second period before the Rangers got two late goals, including a goal by Evan McEneny at 19:57 of the second period to tie the game at three.

“We’re a team looking to try to find its way as we go here and we’re just not good enough yet and probably never will be good enough to go into a game being casual and just skill our way through it,” said Keefe.

Keefe admitted that the Greyhounds may have taken the Rangers lightly entering the contest, considering their record.

“We talked about (taking them lightly) before the game,” said Keefe. “Watching these guys on video before the game, I feel like they’re a much better team than their record indicates. They’ve got a lot of new faces but they’re a team not unlike us. There’s a lot of new faces but still some returning players that can make an impact on the game. Obviously our goaltending has been extremely strong and they’re trying to find their way in net. We talked about it before the game that this is a team, especially on home ice, that is much better than their record shows.”

Nick Maygar finished the day with two goals and an assist for the Rangers while Radek Faksa and Ryan MacInnis added a goal and an assist each. Darby Llewellyn set up a pair of goals for Kitchener while McEneny and Brent Pedersen, on a penalty shot, completed the scoring for Kitchener.

Gudbranson had a goal and an assist for the Greyhounds while Andrew Fritsch had the other Greyhound goal in addition to the Nurse marker. Greyhounds netminder Matt Murray stopped 45 shots in the loss.

“I just felt terrible for Matt,” Keefe said. “It was a game that probably should have been (Brandon) Halverson’s but based upon the way that we played (Friday against Erie), we felt we really needed Matt in net today and obviously that proved to be the case. For him to have to work as hard as he did to keep us in the game, if not for him being at the top of his game like he was today, they score 12 on us.”

The loss drops the Greyhounds record to 16-4-0-2 and marks the first time this season that the Greyhounds have lost two straight games in regulation time. The Rangers improve to 7-12-0-1 with the win.

The Greyhounds now return home for five home games beginning Wednesday night when they host the Saginaw Spirit. Puck drop on Wednesday night is 7:07 p.m. at the Essar Centre.

To check out a recap of all of Sunday's games around the OHL, click here.