Discipline a 'theme' as Greyhounds wrap up road trip

The penalty kill has been a key piece for the Soo Greyhounds, and it got extra work in on Sunday afternoon.

The Greyhounds surrendered a pair of power-play goals in the third period on Sunday afternoon but held on for a 5-4 Ontario Hockey League victory over the Sarnia Sting at Progressive Auto Sales Arena in Sarnia.

Penalties were an issue throughout much of the Greyhounds three-game road trip that wrapped up in Sarnia.

“It’s been a theme for the trip,” said Greyhounds coach John Dean. “It allows teams to beat us or to get back into games. It’s difficult to play when you’re shorthanded the whole game.”

Dean also said he’s “disappointed with how undisciplined we were the whole trip.”

“We played well at points but were inconsistent and the amount of penalties we took hurt us,” said overage defenceman Jordan Sambrook.

“Whenever you take that many penalties, it’s not blaming the refs; it’s on you,” Sambrook said.

Sarnia finished the night 3-for-9 on the power play.

The Greyhounds penalty kill also killed off a lengthy five-on-three late in the third period moments after Matthew Villalta made a pair of key saves of Sarnia’s Mitch Eliot on a shorthanded opportunity.

“Killing the five-on-three was obviously big,” Dean said. “But the bottom line is we need to play 60 minutes.”

Villalta made 32 saves for the Greyhounds.

Dean said Villalta was a key part of the game but also said “we don’t want to always be talking about Matthew Villalta after games.”

Morgan Frost paced the Greyhounds with a goal and two assists.

Frost’s goal came on a shorthanded break late in the opening period that gave the Greyhounds a 3-1 lead at that point in the contest.

Jaromir Pytlik, Keeghan Howdeshell, Tye Kartye, and Mac Hollowell also scored for the Greyhounds.

Eliot and Ryan McGregor had a goal and an assist each for the Sting while Hugo Leufvenius assisted on a pair of Sarnia goals.

Franco Sproviero and Jacob Perreault also scored for the Sting.

Ethan Langevin got the start in goal for Sarnia but was pulled after giving up five goals on 19 shots.

Cameron Lamour stopped all nine shots he faced the rest of the way.

The Greyhounds remain in top spot in the OHL’s West Division with a two-point lead over the Saginaw Spirit, who also won on Sunday.

The Spirit picked up an overtime win over the Oshawa Generals on Sunday night.

The Greyhounds will take a 39-13-6-1 record into a head-to-head meeting with the Spirit on Wednesday night at the GFL Memorial Gardens. It’s the first of three meetings between the two clubs before the end of the regular season.

The Greyhounds kept pace with the London Knights for top spot in the OHL’s Western Conference as well on Sunday.

The Greyhounds sit four points behind the Knights after London picked up a win at home over North Bay on Sunday afternoon.

With Ethan Taylor out of the lineup for Sunday’s game, 17-year-old Rhett DeVries served as the backup for Villalta.

Mario Peccia, acquired by the Greyhounds from the Oshawa Generals in early-November, was called up from the Ontario Junior League’s Toronto Patriots for Friday’s game in Kitchener but was unavailable for Sunday’s game in Sarnia.

Taylor remains day-to-day and his status for Wednesday’s game against Saginaw remains up in the air.

Captain Barrett Hayton also missed Sunday’s game with a lower body injury suffered Tuesday night.

In other action around the OHL on Sunday, in Oshawa, Cole Perfetti scored 29 seconds into overtime as Saginaw beat Oshawa 5-4. Bode Wilde had a goal and an assist for Saginaw. Allan McShane and Anthony Salinitri had a goal and an assist each for Oshawa.

In London, Kevin Hancock had a goal and three assists as London beat North Bay 8-1. Lam Foudy and Connor McMichael added a goal and an assist each for London. Knights defenceman Adam Boqvist assisted on a pair of goals.

In Hamilton, Darian Pilon scored a pair of goals as the Sudbury Wolves beat the Hamilton Bulldogs 6-2. Shane Bulitka assisted on three goals for the Wolves.

In Kitchener, Joseph Garreffa scored two goals and assisted on another as the Kitchener Rangers beat the Mississauga Steelheads 5-2. Greg Meireles chipped in with a goal and an assist for the Rangers.

In Owen Sound, Ben Jones had two goals and three assists as the Niagara IceDogs blanked the Owen Sound Attack 9-0. Kirill Maksimov and Matt Brassard added a goal and two assists each for Niagara. Jack Studnicka also had a pair of goals for the IceDogs. Goaltender Stephen Dhillon made 21 saves for the shutout.

In Peterborough, Zach Gallant scored a pair of goals as the Peterborough Petes beat the Kingston Frontenacs 4-1. Brady Hinz had a goal and an assist for the Petes. Michael Little assisted on a pair of Peterborough goals.