Greyhounds take commanding lead (9 photos)

The Soo Greyhounds are hoping their first round matchup with the Saginaw Spirit ends the same way the last time the two teams met in the playoffs.

In 2008 the Greyhounds swept the Spirit out of the opening round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs and, thanks to a 4-0 win on Tuesday night, they have a chance to do it again.

A strong finish to the opening period helped the Greyhounds open a 2-0 lead en route to the victory.

“In terms of the first period, it was more about the finish,” said Greyhounds Coach Sheldon Keefe. “In the second half of the period we were able to sustain things a little bit more offensively. The finish of that period was really good. We knew Saginaw was going to come out hard.”

Michael Bunting and Tyler Ganly scored the first period goals for the Greyhounds while Nick Ritchie and Blake Speers also scored.

Bunting finished the night with a goal and an assist.

“He’s good around the net and we’ve had the puck a lot in these first three games and when we have it a lot, we’re getting it to the net a lot and that’s where he’s at his best,” Keefe said. “In terms of his offence, he’s been able to benefit from how the games have been going here. He’s been a good part of helping his line spend a lot of time in the offensive zone.”

Ganly also had a goal and an assist. Jared McCann chipped in with a pair of assists. .

“The game wasn’t as efficient as our last time out (in game two), but it’s hard to duplicate an effort like that,” said Keefe.

Greyhounds netminder Brandon Halverson stopped 24 shots for the shutout.

“He was really good again,” said Keefe. “He was perfect on the night and he earned it especially on the penalty kill.”

Keefe noted that the Greyhounds defensive game was strong in the win as well.

“We were extremely good, maybe as good as we’ve been all season, defensively,” said Keefe.

Spirit goaltender Evan Cormier made 38 saves for the Spirit.

The Greyhounds will look to wrap up the series on Thursday night in game four in Saginaw.

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OTHER SCORES

In Kingston, Jake Smith made 46 saves as the North Bay Battalion beat the Kingston Frontenacs 3-1. Brenden Miller assisted on all three North Bay goals, scored by Mathew Santos, Nick Paul and Alex Henriksson. Lawson Crouse scored the lone Kingston goal. North Bay now leads the series 3-0 with game four in Kingston on Thursday night,

In Kitchener. Mitch Marner had two goals and four assists as the London Knights took a 3-0 series lead with a 10-6 win over the Kitchener Rangers. Rookie defenceman Victor Mete assisted on five goals for London while Matt Rupert and Christian Dvorak added two goals each. Owen MacDonald, Jack Hidi and Julius Bergman had a goal and an assist each for the Knights while Max Domi had the other London goal. David Miller had two goals and two assists for Kitchener while Liam Maaskant chipped in with two goals and an assist. Nick Magyar and Darby Llewellyn also scored. The Rangers will look to avoid elimination on home ice in game four on Thursday.

In Owen Sound, Robby Fabbri and Tyler Bertuzzi had a goal and an assist each as the Guelph Storm beat the Owen Sound Attack 2-1. Both Storm goals came in the opening period as they take a 2-1 series lead in the process. Former Greyhound Justin Nichols made 34 saves for Guelph. Zach Nastasiuk had the lone Owen Sound goal. Game four is Wednesday night in Owen Sound.

In Peterborough, Matthew Mancina made 46 saves to lead the Peterborough Petes to a 3-1 victory over the Oshawa Generals as the Petes avoided falling into a deep hole in their first round series. With the win, the Petes avoid falling behind 3-0 to the top-seeded Generals. Kyle Jenkins, Greg Betzold and Michael Clarke scored for the Petes while Cole Cassels had the lone Generals goal. Game four is Thursday night in Peterborough.

In Sarnia, Dylan Strome scored at 10:35 of overtime to lift the Erie Otters to a 4-3 win over the Sarnia Sting to help the Otters take a 3-1 series lead. Travis Dermott, Taylor Raddysh and Kyle Maksimovich also scored for Erie while Daniel Dekoning stopped all 17 shots he faced after taking over for Devin Williams in the Erie goal. Williams was pulled after giving up three goals on six shots. Jordan Kyrou, K:evin Spinozzi and Hayden Hodgson scored for Sarnia while Taylor Dupuis stopped 41 shots for the Sting, who built up a 3-0 lead in the game before surrendering four unanswered goals.

(Photo courtesy David C. Bristow/MLive)