Complete effort lifts Greyhounds

The Soo Greyhounds are looking for a consistent 60-minute effort as the Ontario Hockey League playoffs approach.

If they’re looking for an example, Thursday night’s 4-2 win over the Windsor Spitfires at the WFCU Centre in Windsor is a good example.

“From top to bottom, everyone played pretty well,” said Greyhounds forward Morgan Frost, who had a pair of goals and an assist. “We played pretty close to a full 60 minutes. With Barrett (Hayton) out, a lot of the young guys stepped up and some of the older guys and key players had good games as well.”

“There’s no doubt that 60 minute (efforts) have been inconsistent,” said Greyhounds Coach John Dean. “To a man, we got a really good effort from everybody (against Windsor). It was really easy as a coach to put guys on the ice, which is always nice. I was never second-guessing myself when putting guys on the ice. We talked about as we move forward here and get closer to the playoffs, we’re going to have to win games different ways and one of the big things is competing for 60 minutes. Our guys did that tonight.”

In addition to the three-point night by Frost, his linemates chipped in with solid nights as well. Keeghan Howdeshell had a pair of assists and Jaromir Pytlik continued his solid play and assisted on a goal as well.

“When he’s on, he’s a tough player to stop,” Dean said. “He’s really grown into a leadership role. And his linemates tonight too were fantastic. It was one of the best games (Howdeshell) has played all year. It was a 200-foot game. He worked exceptionally hard. He was a threat with and without the puck all night. Jaromir Pytlik showed us what he can do today in terms of his vision and passing. He made some breakout passes tonight that he made look easy and generated a lot of offence for that line.”

Frost credited the young players on the team including Pytlik and Rory Kerins, who also scored for the Greyhounds on Thursday.

“They’re all open to learning from (the coaching staff) and also learning from the older guys,” Frost said. “I can’t say enough good things about the young guys. They work their tails off.”

Frost called playing with Pytlik “a treat.”

“He’s still young and he’s going to be such a great player,” Frost added. “He complements Howdy and I perfectly.”

Rookie goaltender Ethan Taylor got the start for the Greyhounds and stopped eight of 10 shots in the opening period before leaving the game.

Dean said the rookie suffered an upper-body injury in the game and is day-to-day. His status for Friday’s game in Kitchener against the Rangers wasn’t known.

Veteran Matthew Villalta played the final 40 minutes and stopped all 15 shots he faced.

Cole MacKay also scored for the Greyhounds.

After being injured on Tuesday night in the Greyhounds home win over the Sarnia Sting, Barrett Hayton missed Thursday’s game due to injury.

Following Tuesday’s game, Dean said the veteran forward, and Arizona Coyotes prospect, was day-to-day with a lower body injury.

Following Thursday’s game, Dean said Hayton remains day-to-day but did make the trip as he works with Greyhounds athletic therapist Julian Cooper.

Dean didn’t rule out Hayton getting into the lineup this weekend as the trip moves to Kitchener on Friday and Sarnia on Sunday afternoon, but Dean also said he wouldn’t be rushed to return to the lineup.

In speaking with The Athletic’s Craig Morgan, Coyotes President of Hockey Operations John Chayka said Hayton’s injury was a charley horse and not thought to be serious.

Will Cuylle and Curtis Douglas completed the scoring for the Spitfires.

Windsor goaltender Colton Incze stopped 30 shots.

“That’s a very difficult team to play against,” Dean said of the Spitfires. “They work extremely hard and are very structured. They don’t stop coming and they’re a fast team and our guys were up to the challenge. We competed as hard and generated a lot of scoring chances.”

For the Greyhounds, Thursday’s result means the team improves to 38-12-6-1 and pulls to within two points of the Western Conference-leading London Knights, who lost on Thursday night in Peterborough.

The win also means the Greyhounds maintain a four-point lead on the Saginaw Spirit in the OHL’s West Division as the Spirit also won on Thursday, beating the Barrie Colts.

The loss ends a three-game winning streak for the Spitfires and drops Windsor’s record to 24-29-3-3 as the team battles for playoff positioning in the OHL’s Western Conference.

In other action around the OHL on Thursday, in Peterborough, three unanswered goals lifted Peterborough to a 3-1 win over London. Tye Austin stopped 34 shots for the Petes while Nick Robertson and Adam Timleck scored 2:31 apart in the opening period to give Peterborough a 2-1 lead after the Knights opened the scoring early.

In Barrie, Cole Perfetti scored a pair of goals as Saginaw beat Barrie 6-3. Brady Gilmour and Owen Tippett had a goal and two assists each for the Spirit.

In St. Catharines, Jack Studnicka scored four times as the Niagara IceDogs beat the Kitchener rangers 10-2. Akil Thomas chipped in with a goal and two assists while Kyen Sopa and Kirill Maksimov added two goals each for the IceDogs.