Greyhounds drop shootout in Sarnia (update)

The Soo Greyhounds carried the play but will come home with just a single point from their road trip finale.

The Greyhounds dropped a 7-6 shootout decision to the Sarnia Sting at the RBC Centre in Sarnia on Sunday evening in Ontario Hockey League action, wrapping up a three-game road trip in the process.

“We got into some unfortunate penalty trouble that cost us,” said Greyhounds Coach Sheldon Keefe. “I can’t be too upset with the process of how we played. We were very much in control of the game all the way through. We had more than enough opportunities. We scored six but probably had enough opportunities to get 10.”

Jean Dupuy led the way offensively for the Greyhounds with a pair of goals in the loss. Zach Senyshyn and Gabe Guertler had a goal and an assist each. Blake Speers and Gustav Bouramman also scored for the Greyhounds.

“To play as well as we did, to generate as many opportunities and give up as little as we did we can’t be too upset about that,” said Keefe. “We feel like we should have come out of this home with two points. We certainly deserved it but there were too many pucks in our net and we turned one over and made things easy on them to tie it up once we had taken the lead in the third.

“At the end of the day, we tied the game and lose the shootout,” Keefe added. “That’s the thing about the shootout. They win the shootout and they feel wonderful. Had we won the shootout, they probably go back to the room and don’t feel very good because we outplayed them and out-shot them the way we did.”

Rookie Joseph Raaymakers started for the Greyhounds but was pulled after giving up three goals on seven shots in the opening 11 minutes, including goals 32 seconds apart.

“We didn’t make it easy on him with some breakdowns in coverage on the first goal and the traffic the puck was shot through,” Keefe said. “On the second goal, we were in penalty trouble and it was a hard one-timer by a very good player. The third one I’m sure he wants back. He had a tough go. It’s a rough trip on a 16-year-old kid and it showed.”

Brandon Halverson came in and stopped nine of 12 shots the rest of the way.

“Brandon came in in a pretty tough spot given that he hadn’t skated or seen many pucks this week,” said Keefe.

Sting goaltender Taylor Dupuis finished the night with 35 saves and stopped all three Greyhounds shooters in the shootout.

Nikita Korostelev had the shootout winner for the Sting while setting up three goals in regulation time. Anthony DeAngelo had a goal and an assist while Pavel Zacha, Patrick White, Davis Brown, Jordan Kyrou and Stephen Pierog also scored.

White’s goal in the late stages of the third period came 90 seconds after Senyshyn had scored to give the Greyhounds a 6-5 lead.

The Greyhounds finish the three-game trip with a pair of wins and a shootout loss.

“On a whole, all three games on the road trip were probably three of our most efficient games and convincing games we’ve had this season,” said Keefe.

With the loss, the Greyhounds drop to 21-6-0-2. The win improves Sarnia’s record to 15-12-1-1 and move them six points ahead of the Saginaw Spirit, who dropped a 4-2 decision in Guelph on Sunday, in the OHL’s West Division.

The Greyhounds return to action Wednesday night with the first of three at home. The Greyhounds host the Plymouth Whalers before hosting the Kingston Frontenacs on Friday night and the Windsor Spitfires on Sunday afternoon.

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OTHER SCORES

In Ottawa, Andrew Mangiapane had a goal and two assists to lead the Barrie Colts to a 5-3 win over the Ottawa 67’s. Brendan Lemieux and Cordell James had two goals each for the Colts. Goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood made 31 saves. Dante Salituro scored a pair of goals for the 67’s while Travis Barron also scored in the loss.

In Sudbury, Josh Burnside scored two goals and set up another to lead the Mississauga Steelheads to a 5-1 win over the Sudbury Wolves. Bryson Cianfrone set up three goals for Mississauga while Brandon Devlin added a goal and an assist in the win. Jimmy Lodge and Sam Babintsev also scored for the Steelheads. Brady Pataki had the lone goal for the Wolves in the loss.

In London, Max Domi scored on the power play at 1:44 of overtime to lift the London Knights to a 5-4 win over the North Bay Battalion. Domi had two goals and three assists in the win. Christian Dvorak, Michael McCarron and Mitchell Marner had a goal and an assist each for the Knights in the win. Kyle Wood had a goal and two assists for the Battalion. Jared Steege, Nick Paul and Brendan Miller also scored for North Bay. Ray Huether set up two goals in the loss. Jake Smith made 35 saves for North Bay,

In Saginaw, Jason Dickinson’s second period goal held up as the winner in a 4-2 victory by the Guelph Storm over the Saginaw Spirit. Ben Harpur and Tyler Boston has two assists each in the win. Tyler Bertuzzi, Pius Suter and Chadd Bauman also scored for the Storm. Artem Artemov and Mitchell Stephens scored for the Spirit. Dylan Sadowy set up two goals for Saginaw in the loss.

In Oshawa, Tobias Lindberg had a goal and an assist as the Oshawa Generals beat the Erie Otters 4-1. Hunter Smith, Michael Dal Colle and Sam Harding also scored in the win. Taylor Raddysh had the lone goal for the Otters in the loss.

(File photo: Soo Greyhounds forward Jean Dupuy in action against the Plymouth Whalers during the 2013-14 OHL season Kenneth Armstrong/SooToday)