Greyhounds drop homestand opener

The ability to win on home ice has been a struggle for the Soo Greyhounds.

The team fell to 1-4-0-0 at the Essar Centre after a 6-2 Ontario Hockey League loss against the Sudbury Wolves in the opener of a three-game homestand on Wednesday night.

Costly mistakes led to the Wolves taking a 3-1 lead through 20 minutes and adding on three more in the second period en route to the victory.

“We made three mistakes in the first period and it was when their most dangerous player was on the ice and he made us pay,” Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister said. “I can’t fault the effort (in the game) but when things aren’t going well, you tend to cheat and push a little more and that’s what caused some of those errors was guys trying to do too much.

Alex Gritz and Conor Timmins had the goals for the Greyhounds. For Gritz, it was his first OHL goal.

Bannister would say that despite 42 shots on the Sudbury goal, the Greyhounds could have “done a better job getting pucks to the net.”

“We passed up some chances and we didn’t find some secondary chances too.”

The Greyhounds bench boss would also say that it comes down to simplifying things.

“Quite honestly, I’d like them to simplify,” Bannister said. “We were trying to create Grade-A chances when they weren’t there.

“We missed the net a lot high instead of putting it on net and looking for rebounds,” Bannister added.

Joseph Raaymakers got the start for the Greyhounds but was pulled after the Wolves sixth goal. Raaymakers faced 19 shots before making way for Matthew Villalta for the final 27 minutes of the contest. Villalta stopped nine shots the rest of the way.

Bannister said he plans to go back with Raaymakers on Friday night.

Dmitry Sokolov paced the Wolves to the early lead with three goals in the opening period, including a pair while going to the net on two-on-one rushes.

“He’s slippery,” Wolves Coach David Matsos said of the Russian forward.

Ryan Valentini added a goal and an assist for the Wolves while Michael Pezzetta and Sault native Drake Pilon had the other Sudbury goals.

Pilon said that the game of he and twin brother Darian “translates well” to the OHL and was pleased with his effort in the Wolves victory.

“I played well,” Pilon said. “I just kept it simple. Hit hard, dump the pucks in deep and I got lucky and put one in.”

“I thought (Shane) Bulitka and the Pilon’s were our best line tonight,” Matsos said. “They played with energy. They played with a relentless style. Probably for the most part they played in the neutral zone and the offensive zone.”

Matsos said there were points in the final 40 minutes where the Wolves’ game could have been sharper after taking the early lead in the game.

“(The Greyhounds) kept coming in waves,” Matsos said. “When you get a little bit of a push, you tend to start playing the wrong way and I felt there was pockets of that in the second and third periods when we could have cleaned it up and been a little tighter. At the end of the day we got good goaltending and our sticks were sharp.”

Goaltender Jake McGrath made 40 saves.

Matsos credited McGrath’s ability to allow the Wolves to “kill plays.”

“There are no peaks and valleys throughout the course of the game (with McGrath),” Matsos said. “He’s really calm and he does a really good job killing plays. He allows us to take defensive-zone draws rather than scramble. Once he absorbs and kills plays we can get reset.”

The Greyhounds enter weekend action with a record of 7-4-0-0 while Sudbury takes over top spot in the OHL’s Eastern Conference with a record of 7-3-1-0.

The Greyhounds return to action as the three-game homestand continues on Friday against the Flint Firebirds in a 7:07 p.m. start at the Essar Centre. The stretch wraps up on Saturday against the Ottawa 67’s.

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OTHER SCORES

Wednesday’s lone other game in the OHL saw the Erie Otters beat the Niagara IceDogs 6-5 in St. Catharines. Allan McShane had the game-winning goal for the Otters late in the third period. McShane finished the night with a goal and an assist while Taylor Raddysh paced the Otters offensively with two goals and two assists. Ivan Lodnia chipped in with a goal and two assists. Alex DeBrincat also had a goal and an assist for Erie while Patrick Fellows had the other goal. Christopher Paquette had a pair of goals for Niagara. Graham Knott assisted on three goals while Johnny Corneil added a pair of helpers for the IceDogs. Matthew Philip, Ryan Mantha and Aaron Haydon had the other Niagara goals.