Concerning trend snaps Greyhounds streak

Call it an unwanted trend.

On Friday night, the Soo Greyhounds came out of the gate and gave the Mississauga Steelheads all they could handle through the first half of the opening period, but in the end, the Greyhounds took their foot off the gas and it came back to bite them.

Trailing 2-1 through one period, the Steelheads scored five of the game’s next six goals en route to a 6-3 Ontario Hockey League win over the Greyhounds at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

For the Greyhounds, Friday’s game continued a trend for the team on home ice.

“It’s three games in a row at home where we got off to fantastic starts and I don’t know if our guys think it’s going to be an easy night the rest of the way, as far as I’m concerned, we completely mailed it in,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said.

“That’s not our team,” Dean added.

After coming out of the gate well in the opening eight minutes of the game, Dean agreed that the Greyhounds may have taken the Steelheads lightly at that point.

Asked about the difference following the quick start, Greyhounds forward Justin Cloutier said the team “we weren’t playing fast.”

“We were holding onto pucks too long, we weren’t playing north,” Cloutier added.

Cloutier added that consistency after fast starts has been an issue for the Greyhounds as well of late.

Mississauga coach James Richmond said teams have a habit of taking the Steelheads lightly because of their youth and agreed that it was possible the Greyhounds did so in Friday’s game.

Richmond also said that, after a stretch in which the team has had some struggles, it’s possible the team is showing some life in light of Friday’s result.

“It’s a funny group,” Richmond said of his team. “We’re young, but we were really good at the beginning of the year and felt good about ourselves and started cheating a little bit. Now maybe, we\re coming back to life. You can’t cheat against good teams.”

The Greyhounds thought they opened the scoring early in the opening period when Travis Hayes went to the net and beat Mississauga goaltender Ryerson Leenders on a rebound of a Cloutier shot. The goal was ultimately called back due to a too many men penalty on the Greyhounds.

During the Steelheads man advantage, the Greyhounds officially got on the board when Bryce McConnell-Barker beat a Mississauga defenceman in the slot and proceeded to beat Leenders with a deke in close at 2:47.

Mississauga tied the game at 11:33 when Jack Van Volsen went to the net and took a pass from Angus MacDonnell and beat Landon Miller with a deke to the glove side.

Jacob Frasca gave the Greyhounds a 2-1 lead with 1:02 to go in the period when he went to the net and redirected a pass from McConnell-Barker past Leenders.

Mississauga tied the game at two in the second period when Adam Zidlicky beat Miller high stick side from the right faceoff circle at 9:42.

Just 13 seconds later, MacDonnell beat Miller on a tap in at the right of the goal to give Mississauga the lead for the first time.

MacDonnell extended the lead with 1:32 to go in the period as he beat Miller again from in close to make it a 4-2 game heading into the third.

The Steelheads made it a 5-2 game at 10:01 of the third as Van Volsen took a pass from Lucas Karmiris on a 2-on-1 and beat Charlie Schenkel high glove side.

Zidlicky picked up his second goal of the night with 4:51 to go to make it 6-2 Mississauga.

With 1:10 to go, Gavin Hayes took a pass in the right faceoff circle from McConnell-Barker and beat Leenders on the power play.

McConnell-Barker was in on all three goals for the Greyhounds in the loss with a goal and two assists while Gavin Hayes had one of each.

Miller stopped 19 of 23 shots in two periods of work while Schenkel stopped five of the six shots he faced in the third.

Dean said the goaltending change after two periods was meant as a spark for the Greyhounds as opposed to a reflection of Miller’s play in the loss.

MacDonnell had two goals and two assists for the Steelheads while Karmiris also had a four-point night with four helpers in the game.

Zidlicky chipped in with two goals and an assist.

In addition to the two-goal performance from Van Volsen, Jakub Fibigr assisted on two goals for Mississauga.

The line of MacDonnell, Karmiris, and Van Volsen combined for 10 points for the Steelheads in what was their first game together as linemates.

“We needed to change things around,” Richmond said. “We haven’t been scoring. We haven’t been getting enough pucks to the net and we haven’t been playing inside enough.”

Leenders made 37 saves in the victory.

“Our goalies have been great all year,” Richmond said.

The loss drops the Greyhounds record to 32-13-2-1 on the season. The team remains two points up on the Saginaw Spirit for top spot in the OHL's West Division with Saginaw idle on Friday.

The Spirit, who return to action Saturday at home against the Barrie Colts, have a pair of games in hand on the Greyhounds. The Spirit also play on Sunday at home against the Ottawa 67's.

The Greyhounds also fall two points back of the London Knights for top spot in the Western Conference after the Knights beat the Erie Otters Friday. 

With the win, Mississauga improves 24-19-4-0.

The Greyhounds return to action on Wednesday night on the road when the team travels to Sudbury to take on the Wolves before returning home for games next weekend when they host the Niagara IceDogs on Sadurday night and Saginaw on Sunday afternoon.

In a ceremonial puck drop prior to the game, the three 2023 inductees to the Sault Ste. Marie Hockey Hall of Fame were recognized. The inductees include Paul Boyer and Sherry Bassin in the builders category and Tyler Kennedy in the players category.