Greyhounds grab 2-0 series lead (video)

The Soo Greyhounds have established control in their Ontario Hockey League western conference quarterfinal series with the Saginaw Spirit.

Now the task is to maintain that control as the series heads down the I-75 to Saginaw for games three and four.

On Monday night in front of 4,782 at the Steelback Centre, the Hounds held off the Spirit for a 2-1 victory to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Leading 2-1 heading into the third period, the Hounds were at their defensive best over the final 20 minutes, holding the Spirit to just five shots in the final frame.

The Spirit's best chance to tie didn't come until the final seconds of the game but a Dustin Jeffrey poke check with six seconds remaining stalled the Saginaw comeback attempt.

The Greyhounds opened the scoring 4:30 into the first period as Jeffrey took a drop pass from Wayne Simmonds and wired a shot past Saginaw goaltender Ryan Daniels.

Josh Godfrey then unleashed a blast from the point past a screened Daniels with the Hounds on a five-on-three power play later in the period for a 2-0 lead.

Saginaw pulled themseleves back into the game with just 1.1 seconds remaining in the opening frame as Chris Chappell finally put a rebound past Kyle Gajewski during a scramble in front of the net.

But the Hounds were able to stifle the Spirit defensively over the final 40 minutes while the Hounds had several chances to add to the lead but came up empty.

Gajewski faced just 20 shots for the win while Daniels handled 32 of 34 Greyhound shots.

Saginaw went 0-7 on the power play while the Greyhounds converted on one of six chances.

Game three goes Wednesday and game four on Thursday at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw at 7:11 p.m. both nights. A fifth game, if necessary, will be on Saturday at the Steelback Centre at 7:30 p.m.

For more details, watch the SooToday.com video footage with highlights and reaction from both teams.

Click here to view SooToday.com video highlights [Windows Media Player]