Facing adversity: Greyhounds drop game two (18 photos)

It’s the biggest adversity they faced to date in the Ontario Hockey League playoffs.

The Soo Greyhounds dropped their first game of the 2015 OHL playoffs, losing game two of the Western Conference final 5-2 against the Erie Otters on Friday night at the Essar Centre.

The loss was the first of the playoffs for the Greyhounds.

“Any time you’re going to go through a playoff run, you’re going to be facing some moments that determine whether or not you’re going to succeed or fail,” said Greyhounds Coach Sheldon Keefe. “This is one of those times. We’ve got a team that’s got momentum on their side and they play very good at home and that’s a tough building to play in. We’ve got to go there and find a way to get things going in our favour.”

Trailing 2-1, the Greyhounds gave up a pair of goals in the opening 90 seconds of the third period to fall further behind and, despite a goal midway through the final period, couldn’t battle back in the loss.

Both goals came off plays that saw the Otters force turnovers in the Greyhounds zone.

“We capitalized on our opportunities,” Knoblauch said of the early push in the third period. “We didn’t have many chances in the third. It was a lot of momentum for the Greyhounds but we had three opportunities and were able to score on them. They were fortunate bounces.”

“Any time you can have some insurance it makes you play with a little bit more ease and a little bit more confidence,” Knoblauch also said.

Keefe said the Otters building on the lead made things tougher to battle back late in the game.

“Those were big moments and big swings in momentum,” Keefe said. “We had a chance to regroup and come back out in the third but we didn’t get the response that we wanted and before you know it, the game slips away on us and it’s hard to come back from that.”

Keefe credited the Otters for their play with the lead in the game.
“We played against a team that built themselves a nice lead and played good, sound team defence and that makes things harder on you,” said Keefe. “All of a sudden they’re not pushing to score as much. It certainly made things much tougher to make plays.

“Ultimately it comes back to those big momentum swings and not scoring on our opportunities,” Keefe added.

Dylan Strome had two goals and an assist while goaltender Devin Williams made 27 saves, both earning the praise of their coach.

“This time of the year, you want your best players stepping up,” said Knoblauch. “One of your best players has to be your goaltender and another is your leading scorers. Those two guys played as good as I’ve ever seen them play.”

Connor McDavid also had two goals and an assist while Kyle Maksimovich had the other goal for the Otters. Travis Dermott and Remi Elie assisted on two goals each.

Greyhounds goaltender Brandon Halverson made 23 saves while Blake Speers and Nick Ritchie provided the goals.

“We got outplayed,” said Greyhounds Captain Darnell Nurse. “It’s over now and we’ve got to look forward to the next game.”

For the Greyhounds, they knew this series wasn’t going to be easy.

“We didn’t feel great (about game one) and there were some changes that we needed to make and we didn’t feel we were able to execute them the way we wanted here tonight,” Keefe said. “We knew this was going to be a hard series.”

The series, tied at one, now shifts to Erie for game three on Sunday night.

The Eastern Conference final opened up in Oshawa on Friday night as the North Bay Battalion scored six unanswered goals to beat the Oshawa Generals 6-1.

Goaltender Jake Smith made 30 saves while Nick Moutrey scored a pair of goals to lead the Battalion. Nick Paul, Zach Bratina, Zach Poirier and Ray Huether also scored for North Bay.

Michael McCarron scored the lone goal for Oshawa, who was swept in the Eastern Conference final last spring by North Bay.

Game two in the series is Sunday night in Oshawa.

(Soo Greyhounds head coach Sheldon Keefe reacts to questions during the post-game interview immediately following the team's game two loss to the Erie Otters on April 24, 2015 at the Essar Centre in Sault Ste. Marie. Kenneth Armstrong/SooToday)