Better result but still room for improvement for Greyhounds

After a disappointing effort on Thursday night against the Niagara IceDogs, Soo Greyhounds Coach John Dean said, “the beautiful thing about hockey is there’s an opportunity tomorrow to right a wrong.”

Looking for a better effort 24 hours later, the result was better but there are still some things that the team will look to improve on after a 4-1 Ontario Hockey League road win over the Erie Otters on Friday night at Erie Insurance Arena.

“It was a sloppy game to be honest but all-in-all, we’ll take a 4-1 win,” Dean said. “I don’t think it was our cleanest game, but we found a way to get two points.”

“The positive is we found a way to get two points, but the negative is that we’re still making some of the same mistakes in mismanaging the puck and we have to make better decisions with the puck,” Dean also said. “There’s a time and a place to have possession and there’s a time and a place to make a smart play managing the puck and we’re getting a little carried away sometimes with it.”

Dean also said that “in a perfect world, I would have liked to see a little bit more energy in our game but it’s a back-to-back.”

“We didn’t give up a lot of Grade-A opportunities,” Dean said. “We did a good job of limiting their chances.”

Rookie netminder Ethan Taylor made 24 saves for the Greyhounds, which included a key stop on former Greyhound Alex Gritz in the third period.

With the Greyhounds on its lone power play of the contest, Gritz found himself in alone on a shorthanded breakaway, only to be turned aside by the freshman goaltender.

“Taylor came up really big,” Dean said of the stop. “We challenged him to be really good tonight and he was.”

“It was huge, especially that late in the game and the situation that it was,” said Greyhounds forward Cole MacKay, who had a goal in the win. “If they get that one, it might be a different game after that. He definitely made a big stop when we needed it.”

Barrett Hayton paced the Greyhounds with a goal and an assist while Morgan Frost and Alex Johnston also scored.

Brendan Sellan had the lone goal for Erie.

Otters goaltender Dan Murphy made 27 saves.

Friday’s win took on added importance as the Greyhounds continue to battle the Saginaw Spirit for top spot in the OHL’s West Division.

Saginaw also won on Friday, beating the Flint Firebirds 4-2 to maintain pace with the Greyhounds and remain four points behind the division-leader.

The Greyhounds take a 32-11-5-1 record into action on Sunday as the team wraps up a three-game road trip against the Oshawa Generals.

Saginaw returns to action on Saturday in the back-end of a home-and-home series with Flint.

Friday’s loss drops Erie’s record to 19-27-1-1

In other action around the OHL on Friday night, in Flint, Camaryn Baber had a goal and an assist as Saginaw beat Flint. Spirit goaltender Ivan Prosvetov made 33 saves. Jack Wismer had a goal and an assist for Flint.

In Kingston, Jason Robertson had two goals and two assists against his former team as the Niagara IceDogs beat the Kingston Frontenacs 5-1. Ben Jones and Akil Thomas also had two assists each for Niagara.

In Mississauga, Alan Lyszczarczyk had a pair of goals as the Mississauga Steelheads overcame a 3-1 deficit to double up the North Bay Battalion 6-3. Keean Washkurak chipped in with a goal and two assists for the Steelheads. Christian Propp made 41 saves for North Bay.

In Ottawa, Kyle Maksimovich scored on the power play at 4:09 of overtime to give the Ottawa 67’s a 4-3 win over the Guelph Storm. Maksimovich and Marco Rossi had a goal and an assist each for Ottawa. Keegan Stevenson scored twice for Guelph while Nate Schnarr assisted on all three Storm goals.

In Sudbury, Shane Bulitka had a goal and an assist as the Sudbury Wolves beat the Windsor Spitfires 4-1. Adam Ruzicka assisted on a pair of goals for the Wolves. Windsor goaltender Kari Piiroinen stopped 42 shots.

In Kitchener, Rickard Hugg scored three times as the Kitchener Rangers beat the Owen Sound Attack 6-1. Riley Damiani added a goal and three assists for the Rangers while goaltender Luke Richardson made 34 saves,

In London, Connor McMichael had the shootout winner as the London Knights beat the Barrie Colts 3-2. Jet Greaves made 50 saves for the Colts and stopped two of London’s three shooters in the shootout.

In Oshawa, Brett Neumann had two goals and two assists as the Oshawa Generals beat the Peterborough Petes 12-6. Brandon Saigeon and Tyler Tullio chipped in with a goal and three assists each for the Generals. In total, 17 different Generals had at least a point. Nick Robertson had a goal and two assists for the Petes.