Goaltending performance spoiled in Greyhounds loss

A strong goaltending performance wasn't enough for the Soo Greyhounds on Saturday night.

Despite a 32-save performance from veteran goaltender Brandon Halverson, the Greyhounds dropped a 3-0 decision to the Peterborough Petes in front of an announced crowd of just over 4,000 at the Essar Centre.

The locals outshot the Petes 39-35 in the contest but Coach Drew Bannister felt that his team made things easy on Peterborough.

“We made it really easy on them,” Bannister said. “I didn’t think we had any will to go to the harder areas.”

“We’re getting pucks to the net but we’re just not creating ‘Grade-A’ scoring chances,” Bannister said. “We’re not getting second and third opportunities. We have to go to the harder areas. There’s not a lot of guys trying to get to the net.”

The Greyhounds bench boss would speak highly of Halverson in a losing effort.

“Our goaltending was extremely good,” Bannister said. “He gave us a chance to win.”

Peterborough goaltender Matthew Mancina stopped 39 shots for the shutout.

“He’s been a rock for us all year,” Petes Coach Jody Hull said of the 19-year-old. “Tonight he made a lot of things look pretty effortless. He made a couple of big stops in the third when the Soo was pushing and he’s just really solid.”

Josh Maguire, Steven Lorentz and Eric Cornel completed the Peterborough scoring.

“We were good early and then we were just okay,” Hull said. “Even though we weren’t great skating about half way through the second and in the third, we played pretty well positionally. When you do that, your goalies see a lot of shots.”

For Bannister, the game was one that he would call frustrating.

“It’s frustrating in the way that that’s not the team I’ve seen in the last three games,” said Bannister. “The only urgency that our team had was our goaltending and our penalty kill. Other than that, we looked like a team that was not willing to pay the price and that wanted an easy game. There are no easy games in this league.”

The Greyhounds now prepare for a three-game road trip that sees the team face the Niagara IceDogs in St. Catharines on Thursday before games in Erie on Saturday and Kitchener on Sunday night.

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OTHER SCORES

In Guelph, Gustaf Franzen had a goal and an assist while Connor Bunnaman assisted on a pair of goals as the Kitchener Rangers beat the Guelph Storm 5-1. Jeremy Bracco, Adam Mascherin, Mason Kohn and Dylan DiPerna also scored for the Rangers. Vladislav Barulin had the lone goal for the Storm.

In Hamilton, Charlie Graham made 32 saves as the Hamilton Bulldogs doubled up the Ottawa 67’s 4-2. Matt Luff had a goal and an assist while Stephen Harper, Niki Petti and Brandon Saigeon also scored for Hamilton. Jacob Middleton and Trent Mallette scored for the 67’s.

In Saginaw, Nick Betz’s goal at 2:18 of the third period was the game-winner as the Erie Otters beat the Saginaw Spirit 3-2. Vanya Lodnia had a goal and an assist while Kyle Maksimovich also scored for the Otters. Spirit goaltender Evan Cormier made 37 saves. Artem Artemov and Mike Davies had a goal and an assist for the Spirit. Kris Bennett assisted on both Saginaw goals.

In Sarnia, Pavel Zacha had three goals and two assists as the Sarnia Sting beat the Niagara IceDogs 6-2.Jeff King added a goal and two assists while Patrick White had a goal and an assist for Sarnia. Nikita Korostelev also scored for the Sting. Defenceman Jakob Chychrun assisted on a pair of goals. Sarnia goaltender Justin Fazio stopped 32 shots. Johnny Corneil and Anthony DiFruscia scored for Niagara.

In Windsor, Daniel Dekoning made 35 saves as the Owen Sound Attack beat the Windsor Spitfires 3-1. Bryson Cianfrone scored a pair of goals for the Attack. Josh Sterk also scored for Owen Sound. Liam Murray had the lone goal for Windsor.

In Flint, Brendan Lemieux scored three times and Kevin Labanc assisted on three goals as the Barrie Colts beat the Flint Firebirds 4-1. Ben Hawerchuk also scored for Barrie while goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 30 shots. Connor Chatham had the lone goal for Flint while goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 30 shots.