Major penalty helps Greyhounds in win

A late-second period penalty was the difference for the Soo Greyhounds on Saturday night.

Thanks to a pair of power play goals, one during a five-on-three, the Greyhounds skated to a 3-1 victory over the Niagara IceDogs Saturday at the Essar Centre.

Niagara defenceman Zach Wilkie took a match penalty for slew-footing late in the second period and the Greyhounds took advantage as Tim Gettinger scored the first of his two goals on the night. The goal came with the Greyhounds enjoying a five-on-three advantage after Ryan Mantha took a penalty with Niagara already shorthanded due to the Wilkie major.

Boris Katchouk added another power play goal on the major penalty as the Greyhounds turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead heading into the final period.

Gettinger would add another goal with the teams playing four-on-four with just under five minutes remaining in the contest to seal the win.

“In the first period we were great,” Bannister said. “We played how we want to play and put pressure on (Niagara) and make it difficult to play without the puck. We wanted to be able to have to puck and put a lot of back pressure on them when they had it. We did that in the first but we got away from that in the second. We started to run around and took some penalties that got us off our game.”

“The game-changer was the penalty,” Bannister added. “We were able to make due on their mistake and score a couple of goals that got us back in the game. We got back to our game in the third.”

Both Bannister and Niagara General Manager/Coach Marty Williamson agreed the major penalty was the correct call.

“It looked like the motion was there and the referees were pretty confident with their call,” Williamson said.

“We were playing very well in the second period and then we got ourselves into a good position in the game and that just took a lot of momentum away,” Williamson said. “Our depth is one of our assets and we had to shorten our bench to get through the penalties. The five-on-three makes it even worse and compounds our problems.”

Bannister credited Gettinger for his play in the win.

“He was fantastic,” Bannister said of the sophomore forward. “The goal he scored, the second effort where he went down to block a shot, poked the puck loose and then got on his horse and (won) the footrace and a great finish. He blocked shots and some big ones.”

Anthony DiFruscia had the lone goal for the IceDogs while goaltender Brent Moran made 30 saves.

Joseph Raaymakers made 24 saves for the Greyhounds, who improve to 1-0-1 with the victory after Friday’s overtime loss to Windsor.

Niagara drops to 1-1 after beating Sudbury on Friday.

The IceDogs will get a boost to end the weekend as Williamson said following Saturday’s game that the team will get forward Brendan Perlini back from the Arizona Coyotes.

“He’ll be at practice Monday,” Williamson said. “It gives us another big weapon. It can really start to give us some matchups that will be difficult for teams with Ho-Sang on one line and Perlini on another.”

Next up for the Greyhounds is a three-game road trip that begins on Oct. 2 in Guelph.

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OTHER SCORES

In Hamilton, Stephen Harper scored twice and added a pair of assists as the Hamilton Bulldogs beat the Oshawa Generals 4-3. Trent Fox added a goal and an assist while Brandon Saigeon also had a two-point night with a pair of assists. Christian Miertz also scored for Hamilton. Lukas Lofquist had two goals and an assist for Oshawa while Anthony Cirelli also scored.

In London, Juho Lammikko had the shootout winner as the Kingston Frontenacs beat the London Knights 6-5. Jared Steege scored a pair of goals in regulation time for Kingston while Lammikko, Ryan Cranford and Spencer Watson chipped in with a goal and an assist each. Goaltender Jeremy Helvig made 38 saves and stopped all three Knights shooters in the shootout. Matthew Tkachuk paced the Knights with a goal and two assists offensively. J.J. Piccinich and Olli Juolevi added a goal and an assist each while Aaron Berisha assisted on a pair of goals. Owen MacDonald and Kole Sherwood also scored for London while goaltender Tyler Parsons made 41 saves.

In Flint, Matyas Kantner scored the lone shootout goal as the Flint Firebirds beat the Saginaw spirit 3-2. Goaltender Zack Bowman stopped 32 shots and all three Saginaw shooters in the shootout. Connor Chatham and Mathieu Henderson completed the Flint scoring in regulation time while Will Butten and Vili Saarijarvi assisted on both goals. Mitchell Stephens and Matthew Kreis scored in regulation time for Saginaw who got a 44-save performance from Evan Cormier.

In Owen Sound, Jaden Lindo scored at 3:44 of overtime to lift the Owen Sound Attack to a 1-0 victory over the Guelph Storm. Michael McNiven made 30 saves for the shutout while Guelph goaltender Justin Nichols stopped 45 shots.

(File Photo: Kenneth Armstrong/SooToday)