Greyhounds grab sole possession of division lead

In the face of a 3-1 hole against the team they’re battling for top spot with, the game ultimately turned on a dime.

A pair of goals in the opening minutes of the third period erased the deficit and the Soo Greyhounds rode a stretch of five unanswered goals to a 5-3 win over the Saginaw Spirit Wednesday night at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw.

With the Greyhounds and Spirit battling for top spot in the Ontario Hockey League’s West Division, and the Spirit holding a game in hand on the Sault, the game was the epitome of a four-point contest for the two clubs.

Greyhounds coach John Dean called it “the biggest win of the year.”

“The significance is the odds we faced,” Dean added. “We were down a defenceman right away after a tough call. It’s a tough travel day for us. You go down 3-0. All those obstacles makes it significant and it’s less about the actual magnitude of the game.”

“Obviously it’s an important win and everyone knows that, but it’s the things that we overcame to get that were so critical,” Dean added.

The Greyhounds finished the game with five defencemen after veteran blueliner Caeden Carlisle got into an altercation with Saginaw’s Matyas Sapovaliv at the end of the opening period. Carlisle dropped his gloves and was eventually given an instigating minor penalty, a fighting major, and a game misconduct for being the aggressor on the play. Sapovaliv was given a roughing minor on the play.

Dean said the altercation was “poorly called” by the referees in the game – Joe Monette and Jack Hennigan.

“There’s clearly distance travelled by the player and when you travel that distance, it’s indicating that you want a confrontation,” Dean said. “Our guy obliged and suddenly theirs didn’t want to.”

Dean said he was “extraordinarily proud” of his team in the comeback.

“We were playing a great game even when we were down 3-0,” Dean added. “We had a lot of chances and opportunities to score that unfortunately we didn’t capitalize on. We find a way to capitalize late in the second period and then in the third period as well.”

“It’s easy to get down and get in our heads after a 3-0 lead that they had on us, but we battled back and we’re a resilient team that never gives up,” said Greyhounds forward Bryce McConnell-Barker. “It just shows what we’re capable of.”

Trailing 3-1 heading into the third period after scoring late in the second, McConnell-Barker said there was “so much belief” between periods that the Greyhounds could erase the lead.

“The two quick goals in the third period (a minute apart) really pumped us up,” McConnell-Barker added.

Dean called McConnell-Barker’s power play goal late in the second period to make it a 3-1 game “huge.”

“Bryce continues to be a massive source of strength for us,” Dean said. “He’s still finding his conditioning on his way back here and for him to go in and score such a critical goal, if we don’t get that power play goal late, it might be a different story heading into the third period. The important part of the goal for me was his efforts on retrieving the puck, getting it back to our team so he could use his skill later on.”

Saginaw coach Chris Lazary said following the game that, if not for some big saves from goaltender Andrew Oke early in the game that, “if they go in our net, could change the complexion of the game anyway.”

“Some of the goals (the Greyhounds scored) were just things that have bit us in big games all year,” Lazary added while speaking post-game on the Spirit radio broadcast. “We can get away with it against some teams, but in the big games, it’s just some of the same themes that we’re trying to correct just showed up again tonight. We have to find a way to get over it.”

Saginaw opened the scoring as Sault native Calem Mangone took a pass in the slot from Michael Misa and beat Greyhounds starter Charlie Schenkel 5-hole 4:19 into the contest.

The score remained that way into the second period when the Spirit used a power play to extend the lead. Shortly after the Greyhounds killed off a major penalty to defenceman Caeden Carlisle to start the period, Joey Willis made it a 2-0 game with the Spirit still on the man advantage. The veteran forward beat Schenkel from the right faceoff circle 5-hole on a cross-ice pass from Rodwin Dionicio.

Willis extended the Saginaw lead further when he scored on a rebound in tight after Schenkel made the initial save on the play on a point shot from Dionicio at 16:35.

The Greyhounds game back 1:56 later when McConnell-Barker scored on the power play, converting a back-door, cross-crease pass from Jacob Frasca on the power play.

The Greyhounds then erased the 3-1 deficit early in the third period.

With the visitors on the power play, Arttu Karki made it a one-goal game 1:17 into the third when he beat Spirit goaltender Andrew Oke from the right faceoff circle on a one-timer high short side on a pass from Gavin Hayes.

Just 60 seconds later, the Greyhounds got the game back on even terms when Travis Hayes picked the puck out of a battle along the left- side boards between Owen Allard of the Sault and Saginaw’s Braden Hache. Hayes proceeded to skate into the faceoff and beat Oke short side to tie the game at three.

Then, it was Gavin Hayes who gave the Greyhounds the lead as he skated into the right faceoff circle and stepped past Willis before beating Oke high glove side to make it 4-3 Greyhounds at 10:36.

Dean called the goal “the most beautiful goal I’ve ever seen” in his years as a coach.

“It was like slow-motion from the bench,” Dean said. “I’ve never seen a goal so cerebral, so smooth.”

Overage forward Jordan D’Intino capped off the scoring with 46 seconds to go as he went to the net and beat Oke stick side on the power play after taking a pass from Allard on the power play.

McConnell-Barker and Gavin Hayes had a goal and an assist each for the Greyhounds offensively. Jack Beck and Marco Mignosa assisted on a pair of goals each in the victory.

Schenkel made 21 saves for the Sault.

In addition to the two-goal night for Willis, Dionicio had a pair of assists in the setback.

Oke stopped 29 shots for the Spirit.

With the win, the Greyhounds take a two-point lead on the Spirit for top spot in the OHL’s West Division and improve to 32-12-2-1 on the season.

The Greyhounds also move into a tie for the Western Conference lead with the London Knights at 67 points each.

The Greyhounds return to action Friday night at home against the Mississauga Steelheads before having the rest of the weekend off.

The Spirit have a game in hand on the Greyhounds and are scheduled to return to action Saturday night at home against the Barrie Colts and also play on Sunday at home when they face the Ottawa 67’s. The two contests will leave the Spirit and Greyhounds each at 48 games played following weekend play.

The Spirit fall to 32-13-0-1 with the loss.