Greyhounds capitalize offensively in win over Wolves (video)

Wins are all that matter for the Soo Greyhounds as the final weeks of the Ontario Hockey League regular season.

With their playoff lives on the line, the Greyhounds are in a tough position in the final three weeks of the regular season, but the team took a step on Friday night with a 7-3 road win over the Sudbury Wolves.

With the Greyhounds leading 3-2 through 40 minutes, Alex Johnston increased the lead 1:40 into the third, only to see Sudbury’s Brad Chenier cut the lead back to one 1:13 later.

The Greyhounds would rebound though as Tanner Dickinson went to the net and beat Wolves netminder Mitchell Weeks on a rebound after the Sudbury goalie stopped Jaden Peca’s initial shot from the right circle.

“It was big,” Dickinson said. “We were just having fun out there. When we’re playing the way we need to play, we’re a good team.”

“When we’re playing the way we know we can, it’s really fun,” Dickinson added.

Greyhounds coach John Dean said the Dickinson goal was one of a handful of big moments in the game for the team, which also included killing off a double minor to Peca in the second period and the team proceeded to score on a power play later in the frame

“For Dicky to score that kind of goal this year, we’ve been hard on him this year to make sure he bears down on all of his plays because he creates so many opportunities for himself,” Dean said. “That’s a big goal. That’s a hard rebound to put in because he has to fight through a couple of guys on him to put it in.”

With six games to go in the regular season, the importance of the win wasn’t lost on the players.

“We have to keep building off of it to try to make a run here,” Dickinson said.

“It helps a lot,” added defenceman Robert Calisti said when asked what Friday’s win did for the confidence of the team. “But we have a big one (Saturday) that we have to be ready for so we can’t have too big of a head and have the same mindset.”

Calisti, who assisted on three goals in the game, said the Greyhounds were “relentless” in the win.

“Our game plan was to transition the puck quickly and get them caught out of position,” Calisti said. “We did a good job of that and we banged in some goals that we needed.”

Dickinson, Zack Trott and Cole MacKay had a goal and an assist each for the Greyhounds, who got goals from seven different players in the game.

“We haven’t been scoring many goals lately so for us to have a nice little explosion today, I’m happy for the guys,” Dean said. “Anytime guys are feeling good about themselves by balancing it out like that, it’s nice. It means we’re heading into (Saturday’s) game with a bunch of guys that have some confidence.”

Jaromir Pytlik, Rory Kerins, and Joe Carroll also scored.

Tye Kartye assisted on a pair of Sault goals.

Greyhounds goaltender Nick Malik made 37 saves in the contest, which included 18 in the second period.

Chenier and Blake Murray had a goal and an assist each for Sudbury. MacAuley Carson also scored while Quinton Byfield assisted on a pair of goals.

Friday’s win pulls the Greyhounds back to within three points of the Erie Otters, who currently hold the eighth and final playoff position in the OHL’s Western Conference.

The Otters moved five points up of the Greyhounds on Wednesday night after a win over the Guelph Storm.

Erie was off on Friday night and will return to action on Saturday night on the road against the Niagara IceDogs.

The Greyhounds, with a record of 27-31-3-1, will also be in action, facing the Kingston Frontenacs in a 7:07 p.m. contest at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

“We told the guys when we lost to London last weekend that at some point here, we’re going to have to put together back-to-back (efforts) where it doesn’t matter if we’re tired or mentally tired,” Dean said. “We have to take the momentum of one game and roll into the next. The guys have been really mentally preparing for this weekend for the last three or four days. It’s our responsibility (as a coaching staff) to make sure they’re motivated and prepared but it’s up to them to make sure they’re mentally ready to go.”

Erie’s game in hand will be played on Sunday afternoon at home against the Saginaw Spirit.

With Friday’s loss, Sudbury’s record falls to 33-27-1-1. The team remains in top spot in the OHL’s Central Division with an eight-point lead over the Barrie Colts.

In other action around the OHL on Friday night, in Mississauga, Duncan Penman had two goals and an assist as the Mississauga Steelheads beat the North Bay Battalion 8-5. Ty Collins also scored twice for Mississauga. Brandon Coe scored twice for North Bay.

In Guelph, Matthew Papais had the shootout winner as the Guelph Storm beat the Oshawa Generals 4-3. Cedric Ralph scored twice for the Storm in regulation time.

In Kitchener, Tyson Foerster had two goals and two assists as the Barrie Colts beat the Kitchener Rangers 6-4. Francesco Pinelli assisted on three goals for the Rangers.

In London, Connor McMichael had two goals and an assist as the London Knights beat the Sarnia Sting 4-1.