Greyhounds drop second straight

OSHAWA, ONT. – The Soo Greyhounds limped home from their first extended road trip of the season on Sunday night with a 1-2 record.

The team dropped their second straight game on Sunday evening, a 4-2 loss to the Oshawa Generals at the General Motors Centre, a game in which they were outshot 37-29.

“I don’t think the comment is really about how we played, I think we were just outplayed,” said Greyhounds coach Sheldon Keefe. “We were beat by a better team that was more prepared to play. This just a reflection of how the road trip was for us. It was just a general wakeup call of how you really need to play in this league.”

For the Greyhounds goaltender Brandon Halverson rebounded from a shaky start in Belleville on Saturday night to make 33 saves on Sunday against the Generals, including 19 in a scoreless opening period.

“He played excellent,” Keefe said of Halverson. “The game gets out of control if he wasn’t as good as he was, especially in the first half and really the first period of the game. If he’s not playing like that, this game gets out of control early.”

At the other end of the ice, Generals goaltender Kenny Appleby made 27 saves.

Hunter Smith led the way offensively for the Generals with three goals in the win.

“He’s arguably (one of) our top two or three players every night,” Generals Coach DJ Smith said of the veteran forward. “He blocks shots. He’s one of the toughest guys in the league. He plays the game the right way. He’s showed up for every big game we’ve ever had.”

Anthony Cirelli had the other goal for the Generals. Michael Dal Colle, Cole Cassels and Bradley Latour chipped in with two assists each in the win.

Michael Bunting and Gabe Guertler scored for the Greyhounds in the loss.

“On any given night, they can score ten goals on you,” said Smith of the Greyhounds. “Our goalie (Appleby) was good tonight but then again so was (Halverson). We had just as many chances as they did on some of their turnovers. They’re certainly a fun team and a fast team to watch.”

The loss drops the Greyhounds record to 8-2-0-0 after going 1-2 on the road.

“It’s about learning,” Keefe said of the trip. “The good thing is that we can be a lot better as a team and we were outplayed but we were still in every game right until the end. Those are positive things for us. We’ll be much better to have gone through this.”

The Generals improve to 9-1-1-0 with the victory.

The Greyhounds are back in action on Wednesday night when they host the Sudbury Wolves at the Essar Centre.

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OTHER SCORES

Around the OHL on Sunday;

In Guelph, Tyler Bertuzzi had a goal and three assists to lead the Guelph Storm to a 5-3 win over the Saginaw Spirit. Earlier this week, Bertuzzi signed and entry-level contract with the Detroit Red Wings. Robby Fabbri added a pair of goals for the Storm.

In North Bay, Brenden Miller’s goal at 4:56 of the third period was the winner as the North Bay Battalion beat the Mississauga Steelheads 4-3. Nick Paul scored a pair of goals for North Bay in the win.

In Ottawa, Dante Salituro scored three times to lead the Ottawa 67’s to a 5-3 win over the Plymouth Whalers. Jacob Middleton and Connor Graham picked up a pair of assists each in the win.

In Owen Sound, Thomas Schemitsch scored at 3:16 of overtime to lift the Owen Sound Attack to a 5-4 win over the Windsor Spitfires. Schemitsch had a pair of goals in the win while Daniel Milne had a goal and two assists for the Attack. Sam Povorozniouk scored twice for Windsor.

In Belleville, Connor Hicks made 50 saves as the Belleville Bulls beat the Sarnia Sting 3-2. Remi Elie had the game winner for the Bulls. Anthony DeAngelo had two assists for Sarnia in the loss.