Greyhounds blank Whalers on road

They played with just five defencemen and a shortened lineup overall but it was a complete effort that helped them along.

Without three veteran defencemen, the Soo Greyhounds blanked the Plymouth Whalers 5-0 in Plymouth on Saturday night in Ontario Hockey League action.

It was a game that Greyhounds Coach Sheldon Keefe was pleased with considering the circumstances.

“You take the guys out of our lineup like (Darnell) Nurse and (Anthony) DeAngelo and we were already missing (Tyler) Hore, it changes the look of our team and it’s a dramatic turnaround when you played the night before,” said Keefe. “It took a little bit of time to adjust and deal with that.”

Nurse missed the game with what Keefe called a “lower body injury” that was suffered on Friday night in Saginaw while Hore also missed the game due to injury. DeAngelo missed the game while serving a one-game suspension after a game misconduct he picked up on Friday in Saginaw. Rookie forward Hayden Verbeek also missed the game due to illness.

Keefe credited the defencemen that did dress for the Greyhounds in the game.

“We had five defencemen that battled really hard and dealt with some tough circumstances,” said Keefe. 

Goaltender Brandon Halverson picked up the shutout, stopping 33 shots.

“Halverson was very good and earned that shutout,” said Keefe. “We had to really be counted on for big saves and he was excellent.”

Playing together, Sergey Tolchinsky and Jared McCann combined for seven points in the win. Tolchinsky had a goal and three assists while McCann scored twice and assisted on another goal for the Greyhounds.

“It seems they play really well together,” Keefe said of the pair. “There’s good things happening right now and we’re hoping that will continue to be something we can count on down the stretch.”

Michael Bunting and Gabe Guertler also scored for the Greyhounds.

Plymouth goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic made 36 saves.

Keefe said there’s a chance both Nurse and Hore could be available for Monday’s game in Sarnia.

The Greyhounds improve to 41-11-0-2 with the win and, thanks to an Erie Otters overtime loss against the Owen Sound Attack on Saturday night, gain a point on the Otters in the standings and now have a six-point cushion atop the Western Conference. Erie does have a game in hand.

Plymouth falls to 18-31-2-2 and are now nine points behind Saginaw for the final playoff spot in the OHL’s Western Conference.

The Greyhounds wrap up their three-game road trip on Monday afternoon in Sarnia against the Sting.

****
OTHER SCORES

In Erie, Chris Bigras scored at 4:06 of overtime to give the Owen Sound Attack a 5-4 win over the Erie Otters. Trailing 4-1 in the third period, the Otters scored three times in 1:01 to tie the game late. All three goals game in the final three minutes of the third period. Erik Bradford had two goals and an assist for the Attack while Holden Cook and Petrus Palmu also scored. Goaltender Michael McNiven stopped 37 shots. Connor McDavid scored two goals and an assist for Erie. Alex DeBrincat and Kyle Pettit also scored for the Otters.

In Belleville, Michael Cramarossa had two goals and an assist to lead the Belleville Bulls to a 7-5 win over the Peterborough Petes. Brett Gustavsen added a goal and two assists for the Bulls while Jordan Subban also scored a pair of goals. Matt Luff and Maurizio Colella also scored for the Bulls.  Michael Clarke scored twice for the Petes. Logan DeNoble, Matt Spencer and Jonathan Ang also scored for Peterborough.

In Saginaw, Andrew Mangiapane had a goal and three assists to lead the Barrie Colts to a 6-4 win over the Saginaw Spirit. Joseph Blandisi chipped in with a goal and two assists for the Colts while Brandon Prophet, Brendan Lemieux and Michael Webster also scored for Barrie. Tye Felhaber, Mitchell Stephens, Devon Paliani and Dylan Sadowy scored for the Spirit while goaltender David Ovsjannikov stopped 36 shots.

In Sarnia, Jordan Kyrou scored a pair of goals while Nikita Korostelev had a goal and two assists as the Sarnia Sting beat the Niagara IceDogs 5-4. Jakob Chychrun and Noah Bushnell also scored for Sarnia. Vince Dunn, Billy Jenkins, Anthony DiFruscia and Carter Verhaeghe scored for Niagara.