Big second period paces Greyhounds to win

Things were close for 20 minutes for the Soo Greyhounds on Saturday night.

Tied at one through one period, the Soo Greyhounds scored six times in the second period en route to an 8-1 win over the Plymouth Whalers on the road in Ontario Hockey League action on Saturday.

“It’s fair to say that,” said Greyhounds coach Sheldon Keefe when asked if Saturday was the Greyhounds best road game of the season. “There was a lot of good things and a lot of things we can do better.”

To open the second period, the Greyhounds scored three times to make it 4-1 before the period was five minutes old.

“In the second period we moved the puck extremely well,” Keefe. “We were pretty dynamic around the net and that allowed us to break the game open.”

David Miller scored three times in the second period to lead the Greyhounds offensively in the win.

“You talk about being dynamic around the net and I think that sums up Millsy’s game,” said Keefe. “He seems to be hitting his stride here. He’s the kind of player where last year it was the same thing, he took a little bit of time to really get his confidence and his goal-scoring stride. He seems to be hitting that now and he was fun to watch tonight.”

Miller, along with linemates Bryan Moore and Keigan Goetz combined for eight points in the win. Goetz set up three goals while Moore had a goal and an assist.

“I liked that they scored,” Keefe joked when asked about the trio. “They carried the play very well and moved the puck very efficiently up the ice. Keigan Goetz made some very good plays to keep plays alive and keep the puck moving.”

Sergey Tolchinsky had a goal and two assists for the Greyhounds. Charley Graaskamp, Darnell Nurse and Tim Gettinger had a goal and an assist each as well for the Greyhounds in the win.

Goaltender Brandon Halverson stopped 37 shots for the Greyhounds.

“He was really good,” Keefe said of Halverson. “That’s one area of our game that I’m still not overly excited with is our shots and chances against. They’re still high. Halvy was very much up to the challenge today. There was a very good goaltender down at the other end (Alex Nedeljkovic) and I think he takes it as a personal challenge. He was very good.”

Jack Kopacka made his OHL debut for the Greyhounds in Saturday’s win.

“He did not look out of place at all,” Keefe said of the rookie forward. “He skated extremely well. He was calm with the puck and made plays. I think he’s gotten bigger over the past couple of months too. He looked really big, calm and confident on the ice. He looked very much like an OHL player that’s been with us all year rather than a guy filling in.”

Mathew Campagna had the lone goal for Plymouth in the loss. Nedeljkovic stopped 26 of 33 shots in two period before making way for Zack Bowman, who stopped 13 of 14 shots in the third period for the Whalers.

The Greyhounds return to action on Sunday afternoon when they face the Windsor Spitfires in a 2 p.m. start at the WFCU Centre in Windsor.

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OTHER SCORES

In Erie, the Kitchener Rangers scored four third-period goals to beat the Erie Otters 5-2. Liam Maaskant, Brent Pedersen and Justin Bailey had a goal and an assist each in the win. Ryan MacInnis assisted on a pair of goals for the Rangers. Adam Mascherin and Max Iafrate also scored for Kitchener. Nick Betz and Dylan Strome scored for Erie.

In Belleville, Tyler Bertuzzi’s power play goal with 1:10 left in the third period was the game-winner in a 2-1 win by the Guelph Storm over the Belleville Bulls. Bertuzzi finished the night with a goal and an assist. Garrett McFadden also scored for the Storm in the win while goaltender Justin Nichols stopped 32 shots. Bulls goaltender Charlie Graham made 50 saves in the loss. Adam Laishram had the lone Belleville goal.

In Peterborough, Nick Ritchie had two goals and two assists as the Peterborough Petes beat the Niagara IceDogs 5-1. Eric Cornell added a goal and three assists in the win while Hunter Garlent also picked up a pair of goals for the Petes. IceDogs goaltender Brent Moran made 36 saves in the loss while Graham Knott had the lone Niagara goal.

In Sarnia, defenceman Kevin Spinozzi scored a pair of goals and set up another as the Sarnia Sting beat the Sudbury Wolves 5-2. Troy Lajeunesse had a goal and an assist in the win. Anthony DeAngelo and Vladislav Kodola set up two goals each for Sarnia. Patrick White and Daniel Nikandrov also scored. Danny Desrochers and Michael Pezzetta scored for Sudbury.

In Saginaw, Michael Dal Colle had a goal and two assists to lead the Oshawa Generals to a 5-2 win over the Saginaw Spirit. Anthony Cirelli had a pair of goals for Oshawa while Josh Sterk picked up two assists. Josh Brown chipped in with a goal and an assist. Michael Turner also scored for the Generals. Sean Callaghan and Dylan Sadowy scored for Saginaw.

In Barrie, Kevin Labanc’s power play goal at 13:08 of the third period was the game-winner as the Barrie Colts beat the North Bay Battalion 3-2. Brendan Lemieux and Garrett Hooey also scored for the Colts in the win. Nick Paul had both goals for the Battalion in the loss.

In Owen Sound, Daniel Milne, Chris Bigras and Zach Nastasiuk had a goal and an assist each as the Owen Sound Attack beat the London Knights 6-2. Thomas Schemitsch and Ethan Szypula had a pair of assists each for the Attack. Jeffrey Gilligan, Kyle Platzer and Justin Brack also scored in the win. Christian Dvorak and Julius Bergman scored for London in the loss.

File photo: Soo Greyhounds forward David Miller Kenneth Armstrong.SooToday

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