Calisti power play goal lifts Greyhounds to win over Wolves (video)

Early in the season, a 3-0 deficit might have been too much to overcome for the Soo Greyhounds.

It wasn't on Saturday night.

After falling behind by three on Saturday night, the Greyhounds proceeded to score four unanswered goals to beat the Sudbury Wolves 4-3 in Ontario Hockey League action at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

“We don’t want to be putting ourselves in this position on a consistent basis but I’m happy with the way our guys continually respond,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said.

Sudbury took the lead in the opening period thanks to a goal by Blake Murray just under eight minutes into the contest.

Goals by Owen Robinson and Isaak Phillips 41 seconds apart later in the frame gave the Wolves a three-goal lead and chased Greyhounds netminder Bailey Brkin from the game after stopping 10 of 13 Wolves shots to that point.

Enter Ethan Taylor, who last played on Nov. 21 in Windsor.

“It’s pretty clear Ethan Taylor told me where to go tonight,” Dean said jokingly. “I give him credit. That’s the response we want. This guy has had a tough go here over the last little while. For him to go in cold like that and pitch a shutout, and with the chances we gave up over the course of the night were substantial, it’s not like we gave him a tight-checking game.”

Dean went on to call Taylor’s play “impressive.”

Taylor made 21 saves in the contest.

“When they switched goalies, he came in and stood on his head,” said Wolves coach Cory Stillman.

After goals by Tye Kartye and Jaden Peca sent the game into the first intermission tied at two, Zack Trott tied the game midway through the second period on a play that started with a pass by Taylor to Kartye in the neutral zone. Kartye chipped the puck to Tanner Dickinson who got the puck to Trott in the Wolves zone.

Trott then stepped on from below the goal line and beat Sudbury goaltender Mitchell Weeks to tie the game.

“We want to give our players the tools to make good decisions,” Dean said. “We don’t want to tell them ‘You have to play this way all the time.’ We want to provide them with the development that they have all the tools in their toolbox to make really good decisions with the puck. Tye Kartye has come such a long way from last year and he chose the simple, easy play and so did Ethan Taylor and so did Tanner Dickinson and it turned into success.”

Stillman wasn’t pleased with a pair of penalties that led to a Greyhounds 5-on-3 in the third period that led to the game-winning goal by Robert Calisti.

“The difference was the two calls to make it a 5-on-3,” Stillman said. “If you’re going to all that, there were two right after it right in behind the net and they let it go. If you’re going to put the whistles away, then put them away. Don’t be the difference in a good hockey game.”

In the right faceoff circle, Calisti hit a one-timer on a feed from Billy Constantinou to give the Greyhounds the lead with just under six minutes to go in regulation time.

“That’s the guy we want shooting the puck and when he hits it, it’s pretty tough to stop,” Dean said.

There was a lot to like for Dean on the power play that led to the game-winner.

“Billy is so deceptive with the puck and he did a really good job of feeding Robby a couple of times,” Dean said. “We had a good net front presence. There are always a few other things that are involved with it, but the most important point is the confidence in Robby and Robby’s confidence in himself.”

Kartye and Trott finished the night with a goal and an assist each while Constantinou assisted on a pair of goals for the Greyhounds, who improve to 18-16-2-0 heading into action on Monday on the road in Saginaw.

The Greyhounds enter Monday’s game having gone 8-1-1-0 in their last 10 games.

Weeks made 25 saves for the Wolves.

Sudbury falls to 18-16-1-0.

In other action around the OHL on Saturday night, in Hamilton, Tag Bertuzzi scored three times as the Hamilton Bulldogs beat the North Bay Battalion 5-1.

In London, seven unanswered goals lifted the Kitchener Rangers to a 7-2 win over the London Knights. Riley Damiani and Jonathan Yantsis had two goals and two assists each for Kitchener.

In Erie, Connor Lockhart’s power play goal at 18:34 of the third period helped the Erie Otters to a 5-4 win over the Niagara IceDogs. Maxim Golod had a goal and three assists for the Otters while Jacob Golden also had three helpers.

In Flint, Jack Wismer had a pair of goals as the Flint Firebirds beat the Sarnia Sting 4-1. Riley McCourt and Ethan Keppen assisted on two goals each for Flint.

In Kingston, Marco Rossi had two goals and an assist as the Ottawa 67’s beat the Kingston Frontenacs 7-2. Adam Varga also had a pair of goals for Ottawa while Joseph Garreffa had a goal and two assists.

In Peterborough, Pavel Gogolev scored 12 seconds into overtime to give the Guelph Storm a 3-2 win over the Peterborough Petes. Storm goaltender Owen Bennett made 42 saves.

In Saginaw, four unanswered goals lifted the Saginaw Spirit to a 4-1 win over the Windsor Spitfires. Mason Millman, Cole Perfetti, and Damien Giroux had a goal and an assist each for Saginaw.

In Barrie, Serron Noel scored eight seconds into overtime to lift the Oshawa Generals to a 6-5 win over the Barrie Colts. Brett Neumann had two goals and three assists for the Generals. Riley Piercey had three goals and two assists for Barrie.

In Owen Sound, Cole Schwindt had three goals and an assist as the Mississauga Steelheads beat the Owen Sound Attack 6-3. Nicholas Canade also had four points with two goals and two assists. James Hardie had a goal and two assists for Mississauga.