Strong start, bounce-back play role in Greyhounds win (8 photos)

A strong recovery left Soo Greyhounds Coach Sheldon Keefe a little more at ease than he might normally have been otherwise on Friday night.

The Greyhounds opened up a 4-1 lead and recovered from a poor second period to score three more times in the third period to beat the North Bay Battalion 7-3 at the Essar Centre on Friday night.

“For the first period to go as great as it did and then be challenged in the second period like we were and have that learning opportunity to grow as a group and address some issues that happened in the period and then respond in the third, there’s nothing but positives here,” said Greyhounds Coach Sheldon Keefe. “I didn’t like the second period one bit and we talked about it at length during the second intermission.

“We got pushed up against the wall in the second period and pushed right back (in the third),” Keefe added.

Keefe also went as far as to say the first period was their best period of the season.

“Our first period was the best period we played all season,” said Keefe. “That first period was right on par with the first period we had in Erie (on Feb. 6). It was a really good response from our guys in terms of executing what we wanted to.”

“In tough circumstances when we were pushed up against the wall a little bit, we were really good again in the third,” added Keefe.

Michael Bunting paced the Greyhounds offensively with three goals and an assist. Sergey Tolchinsky and Tyler Hore had a goal and two assists each Anthony DeAngelo set up three goals for the Greyhounds. Zach Senyshyn and Jean Dupuy also scored.

Greyhounds goaltender Brandon Halverson stopped 31 shots.

The Greyhounds lost the services of forward Blake Speers in the second period and his left arm was in a sling following the game.

Keefe told reporters following the game that the injury didn’t appear to be serious.

Alex Henriksson and Nick Paul scored for North Bay, who opened the scoring in the contest on the power play 3:29 into the opening period.

Jake Smith got the start in goal for the Battalion, giving up four goals on 18 shots in the opening period before being pulled after just 20 minutes. Sault native Jake Kment stopped 21 shots in the final 40 minutes.

“It was like two games out there,” said Battalion Coach Stan Butler. “(The Greyhounds) were really good and we looked like we were skating in quicksand.  In the second period our guys played harder. I’m not saying we got back into the game but we made the game respectable. Then you hope you have that same type of effort at the start of the third period but it wasmore back to how it was in the first period.”

You go through different phases during the season and right now we’re in what I like to call the fragile stage,” added Butler. “We’ve had a lot of games in very few days and really no time to work on things we need to work on. We’re going to have to hang in there and weather the storm. The playoffs are not in February. They’re in March. At the end of the day in this league a lot of times it doesn’t matter what team you are in February. It’s what type of team you are in late-March and April.”

Keefe used the game to send some messages as well. Veteran forwards Bryan Moore and Justin Bailey lost ice time after second-period penalties.

“Both penalties take place at a point in time when we’re not playing well,” said Keefe. “The game is slipping away on us and we compound the problem with selfish penalties. This is what the regular season is for. We had an opportunity to address it and we addressed it. “

The Greyhounds played the game without injured defencemen Tyler Ganly and Darnell Nurse and forward Nick Ritchie, who was serving a one-game league-imposed suspension for his fourth minor penalty for boarding of the season, which he received on Wednesday night against Sudbury.

The win improves the Greyhounds record to 44-11-0-2 while North Bay falls to 28-16-6-5.

The Greyhounds return to action on Saturday night when they host the Kitchener Rangers in a 7:07 p.m. start.

****
OTHER SCORES

In St. Catharines, Brendan Perlini had the shootout winner as the Niagara IceDogs beat the Peterborough Petes 2-1. Graham Knott scored in regulation for the IceDogs while Nathan Pancel scored for the Petes. Peterborough goaltender Dylan Wells made 44 saves,

In Plymouth, Slater Doggett’s goal at 17:55 of the third period was the game-winner as the Windsor Spitfires, backed by a 42-save performance from Alex Fotinos, beat the Plymouth Whalers 2-1. Markus Soberg had the other goal for Windsor while Ryan Moore had the lone goal for Plymouth. Whalers goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 41 shots.

In Sarnia, Erik Bradford had a goal and four assists to lead the Owen Sound Attack to an 8-5 win over the Sarnia Sting. Holden Cook chipped in with two goals and an assist while Daniel Milne also scored twice for the Attack. Ethan Szypula, Kyle Platzer and Zach Nastasiuk also scored. Daniel Nikandrov had a goal and two assists for the Sting.  Jakob Chychrun, Hayden Hodgson, Anthony Salinitri and Nikita Korostelev also scored for Sarnia.

In Guelph, Tyler Hill’s goal at 16:44 of the third period capped off a 4-3 comeback win for the Guelph Storm over the Erie Otters.  The Storm scored three unanswered goals in the third period to pick up the win. Chris Marchese had a goal and two assists while Tyler Boston and Pius Suter also scored for Guelph. Goaltender Justin Nichols made 35 saves for the Storm. Remi Elie, Darren Raddysh and Nick Baptiste scored for Erie.

In London, Christian Dvorak scored the lone shootout goal as the London Knights beat the Oshawa Generals 4-3. Julius Bergman scored a pair of goals for London while goaltender Michael Giugovaz stopped 48 shots and all three Oshawa shooters in the shootout. Aaron Berisha also scored for London while Mitch Marner set up three goals. Ken Appleby stopped 41 shots. Sam Harding, Will Petschenig and Josh Brown scored for the Generals.

In Mississauga, Lucas Peressini made 30 saves as the Kingston Frontenacs beat the Mississauga Steelheads 4-1. Ryan Verbeek, Sam Schutt, Conor McGlynn and Juko Lammikko scored for the Frontenacs. Josh Burnside had the lone goal for the Steelheads.

In Ottawa, Connor Graham, Ben Fanjoy and Sam Studnicka had a goal and an assist each as the Ottawa 67’s beat the Saginaw Spirit 4-1. Nevin Guy also scored for Ottawa. Jacob Ringuette had the lone goal for the Spirit.

In Sudbury, Jeff Corbett scored the game-winner to give the Sudbury Wolves a 2-1 victory over the Kitchener Rangers. Goaltender Samuel Tanguay stopped 34 shots in the win. Matt Schmalz had the other goal for the Wolves while Mike Davies had the lone goal for Kitchener.

(PHOTO: Soo Greyhounds forward Sergey Tolchinsky seen on his knees immediately after scoring on Jake Smith of the North Bay battalion during a game on February 20, 2015 at the Essar Centre in Sault Ste. Marie. Kenneth Armstrong/SooToday)