Greyhounds blanked in Erie fashion

The Soo Greyhounds made the long trek from London to Erie on Friday and were soundly handled by the Otters.

Backed by a 23 save performance by Josh Disher, the Erie Otters defeated the Soo Greyhounds 5-0 in Ontario Hockey League action on Friday night.

Geoff Platt provided all the offense Erie would need by opening the scoring in the first period on the power play to give the Otters a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes.

In the second period, Jason Speight scored his first goal of the season while Ryan O'Marra added another to give Erie a 3-0 lead after two periods. Josh Patterson and Derek Merlini rounded the scoring in the third period. O'Marra and Vince Scott recorded two assists each.

Kevin Druce made his second straight start in net on Friday after a stellar performance in the Hounds 3-1 loss to open the road trip in London on Thursday. Druce stopped 26 of 31 Erie shots.

With the loss, the Greyhounds fall to 21-24-1-1 for 44 points and allow Erie to break the tie for seventh overall in the Western Conference. Erie improves 20-17-5-1 for 46 points.

The Greyhounds conclude their three-game road trip on Sunday against the Brampton Battalion beginning at 2 p.m.

The Hounds return home next weekend to host Peterborough on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Barrie at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Memorial Gardens in the first two games of a three-game home stand.

In other OHL action on Friday, Dylan Hunter scored twice and Gerald Coleman made 38 saves as London shutout Owen Sound 7-0. John Vigilante scored twice while John Mitchell added a goal and five assists to lead Plymouth past Mississauga 8-2.

Paul McFarland scored the game winner as Kitchener edged Barrie 5-4, Matt Ryan scored three times to lead Guelph past Saginaw 5-2, Stefan Blaho scored the game winner late in the third period to lift Sudbury past Sarnia 3-2 and Matt Anthony made 34 saves as Windsor shutout Toronto 5-0.

David Halasz's third period goal stood as the winner as Ottawa nipped Peterborough 4-3, Danny McDonald scored twice to lead Kingston past Brampton 4-1 and Tyler Donati scored the winner as Oshawa beat Belleville 2-1.