Greyhounds overcome short bench against Spitfires

A dominant third period lifted the Soo Greyhounds to win number 46 on Friday night.

The Greyhounds scored four times and outshot their opponent 19-4 in the final period of a 5-3 victory over the Windsor Spitfires in Ontario Hockey League action at the Essar Centre.

“We had an excellent start to the game and probably deserved a couple (goals) but it didn’t happen and then Windsor had some time in our zone after that but we didn’t give up very much,” said Keefe. “We had some big blunders that led to two-on-ones and three-on-ones but not very many. Through two periods, we had them only shooting one puck at our net from the scoring area inside the slot and circles. We did a nice job of keeping them to the outside. In the third period, we were in complete control and got a little sloppy and a little bit too confident late.

“Considering our lineup and considering the break, I was pretty pleased with the game,” Keefe added.

The game was a return to action after getting some time off during the week following a busy stretch in the schedule. After action last weekend, Greyhounds management gave the players some time off with players returning to the ice on Thursday for practice.

“The time off didn’t have any effect on the game from a negative standpoint,” Keefe said.

Windsor Coach Bob Boughner called a game misconduct assessed to veteran defenceman Trevor Murphy for what was termed a “discriminatory slur” a difference in the game as the Spitfires were heading to a five-minute power play. The misconduct came at the same time Greyhounds forward Keigan Goetz was handed a slew-footing match penalty.

“The turning point is when we get a five-minute power play and Murphy gets thrown out of the game,” said Boughner. “He’s the top of our power play and you could see the difference out there. That demoralized us a bit.”

“We were in a good position after two (periods) and stuck to our game plan but when Murph goes, he was playing against their top line,” Boughner added. “Once they got the second goal, we were opening it up too much and got stung.”

Anthony DeAngelo led the Greyhounds with two goals and an assist.

“He’s a world-class player that is very much in control of things that are happening on the ice,” Keefe said. “When he is in control of his emotions and is dialed in he’s a major difference-maker.”

Overage forward Jean Dupuy added a goal and two assists for the Greyhounds while Zach Senyshyn and Jared McCann also scored. Sergey Tolchinsky also had two assists. Goaltender Brandon Halverson made 22 saves.

Windsor goaltender Brendan Johnston stopped 41 shots while Logan Brown, Slater Doggett and Cristiano DiGiacinto completed the Spitfires scoring.

“It’s frustrating because I think we played hard,” Boughner said. “We stuck to the game plan for the most part. We stopped shooting and we stopped getting pucks deep on them. The second goal of the game, Graeme Brown rushes the red line, goes to rim it and it hits the ref. On the third goal, Sam Povorozniouk is at the end of a shift, got to go deep, turns it over and it’s in the back of our net. Game over. It’s tough to come back from 3-1 when you’re on the road and played the night before.”

Already without five veterans due to injury in Tyler Ganly (lower body), Blake Speers (shoulder), Nick Ritchie (concussion), Darnell Nurse (lower body) and Justin Bailey (ankle), the Greyhounds will now be without Goetz for Sunday’s game against the London Knights. The penalty also carries an automatic two-game suspension,

With call-up Boris Katchouk already in the lineup, the Greyhounds had called up Jack Kopacka for the weekend but issues with his midget team in Detroit (Compuware) have arisen and Keefe didn’t think he would be eligible to play on Sunday afternoon against London.

Keefe expected to go with 10 forwards against the Knights.

The Greyhounds record improves to 46-11-0-2 while Windsor falls to 24-31-2-1 as they continue to battle Saginaw for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Saginaw dropped a 5-0 decision on Friday night to the Ottawa 67’s.

For the Greyhounds, the team now moves 10 points ahead of the Erie Otters atop the Western Conference standings thanks to the Otters dropping a 5-4 decision in Owen Sound to the Attack.

The Greyhounds wrap up their homestand on Sunday afternoon when they host the London Knights in a 3 p.m. start.

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OTHER SCORES

In Kingston, Juho Lammikko had a goal and an assist as the Kingston Frontenacs blanked the Sudbury Wolves 3-0. Lucas Peressini stopped 17 shots for the shutout. Lawson Crouse and Spencer Watson also scored for Kingston. Sudbury goaltender Troy Timpano stopped 38 shots.

In Sarnia, Nikita Korostelev scored on the power play at 4:43 of overtime to give the Sarnia Sting a 3-2 victory over the Plymouth Whalers. Pavel Zacha and Jeff King also scored for Sarnia while Jordan Kyrou assisted on two goals. Plymouth goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic made 43 saves.

In Saginaw, Leo Lazarev made 31 saves as the Ottawa 67’s blanked the Saginaw Spirit 5-0. Jeremiah Addison, Evan deHaan, Sam Studnicka, Adam Craievich and Nathan Todd completed the 67’s scoring.  Evan Cormier got the start for Saginaw, stopping 17 shots in two periods of work while David Ovsjannikov played the third period, giving up one goal on nine shots.

In Kitchener, Nick Paul had two goals and an assist to lead the North Bay Battalion to a 5-1 win over the Kitchener Rangers. Nick Moutrey added a goal and two assists for the Battalion. Brett McKenzie and Alex Henriksson also scored for North Bay. Darby Llewellyn scored the lone goal for Kitchener.

In London, Tyler Parsons made 47 saves as the London Knights beat the Guelph Storm 6-2. Christian Dvorak scored a pair of goals for London while Max Domi and Chandler Yakimowicz had a goal and an assist each. Jack Hidi and Aaron Berisha also scored for the Knights. Matt Rupert, Mitch Marner and Victor Mete had three assists each for London. Tyler Boston and Chris Marchese scored for Guelph.

In Owen Sound, Petrus Palmu’s power play goal at 10:03 of the third period was the game winner as the Owen Sound Attack beat the Erie Otters 5-4. Attack defenceman Chris Bigras had four assists while Palmu and Erik Bradford had two goals each. Ryan Heeps also scored for Owen Sound while goaltender Jack Flinn stopped 34 shots. Connor McDavid, Remi Elie and Alex DeBrincat had a goal and an assist each for the Otters while Dylan Strome picked up two assists. Nick Betz also scored for Erie.

In Oshawa, Bradley Latour, Cole Cassels and Mitchell Vande Sompel had a goal and two assists each to lead the Oshawa Generals to an 8-4 win over the Belleville Bulls. Matt Mistele added a pair of goals for the Generals while Brent Pedersen also scored. Michael McCarron and Tobias Lindberg assisted on two goals each for Oshawa. Brandon Saigeon, Jordan Subban, Michael Cramarossa and Brett Welychka scored for Belleville.