VIDEO: Greyhounds lack energy in loss

With little on the line, the Soo Greyhounds “need to be better” after a disappointing loss to the Flint Firebirds Friday night.

Fedor Gordeev scored 70 seconds into overtime to give the Firebirds a 4-3 overtime victory over the Greyhounds in Ontario Hockey League action at the Essar Centre.

A lack of energy seemed to plague the Greyhounds early on.

“(At even strength) we didn’t play with a lot of energy,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister. “Because we didn’t have a lot of energy, we were a step behind or a half-step behind, especially in the first period.

“We started to play a little bit better in the second period, but we got into penalty trouble and it carried over into the third,” Bannister added. “The penalty trouble ended up hurting us in the end.”

The Firebirds would tie the game on the power play with 3:52 to go in regulation time as C.J. Clarke beat Matthew Villalta to force overtime after Morgan Frost took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and subsequently had his night ended after taking a 10-minute misconduct penalty as well.

“He’s an important player for our hockey team and he took a very selfish penalty,” Bannister said of the Frost penalty. “It put us in a bad position not to be able to win the hockey game. He’s a very important player on our hockey team and we expect more out of him.”

Bannister would also say that the penalty was “very uncharacteristic of him.”

Rasmus Sandin, Taylor Raddysh, and Joe Carroll completed the scoring for the Greyhounds.

Making his last regular season start, goaltender Matthew Villalta stopped 32 shots. Tyler Johnson will start the regular season finale on Sunday afternoon against the London Knights.

Jack Phibbs added a pair of goals for the Firebirds while Jake Durham assisted on three goals. 

“This is probably the most proud I’ve been of them all year,” said Flint Coach Ryan Oulahen. 

“We know that when we put it together and get a really solid goaltending performance and everybody works hard, we feel like we can be competitive,” Oulahen also said. “It just hasn’t been consistent enough.”

Garrett Forrest made 34 saves for Flint, including 16 in the second period.

“He’s had some tough starts as of late,” Oulahen said. “I’m proud of him. 

“He played outstanding.”

The Firebirds record improves to 20-42-3-2 and the team moves two points ahead of the Sudbury Wolves as the two teams are in contention for the first overall pick in the OHL Priority Selection this spring.

With one regular season game remaining, the Greyhounds fall to 54-7-3-3.

The annual OHL Coaches Poll was released on Wednesday and the Greyhounds were well represented. 

Among the Greyhound players recognized were:

• Morgan Frost, who took top spot in the smartest player and best playmaker categories,
• Boris Katchouk, who took first in the most dangerous in the goal area and best penalty killer categories,
• Conor Timmins was first in the best defensive defenceman category,
• Matthew Villalta placed second in the best puck handling goaltender category
• Hayden Verbeek was second in the hardest worker category and third in the best skater category
• Mac Hollowell was second in the most improved player category,
• Taylor Raddysh finished third in the hardest shot category,
• Barrett Hayton finished in a tie for third in the best defensive forward category

In other action around the OHL on Friday, in Erie, Kirill Maksimov set up four goals as the Niagara IceDogs beat the Erie Otters 6-3. Jonathon Schaefer assisted on three Niagara goals while Johnny Corneil scored twice.

In Kingston, Linus Nyman and Gabriel Vilardi had a goal and two assists each as the Kingston Frontenacs beat the North Bay Battalion 5-3. Cliff Pu added a pair of goals for Kingston while goaltender Jeremy Helvig made 34 saves.

In Mississauga, Owen Tippett and Nicolas Hague had two goals each as the Mississauga Steelheads beat the Ottawa 67’s 5-2. Mississauga goaltender Emanuel Vella made 34 saves.

In Sudbury, Andrei Svechnikov had two goals and an assist as the Barrie Colts beat the Sudbury Wolves 6-4. Dmitry Sokolov and Aaron Luchuk chipped in with a goal and two assists each for Barrie. 

In Kitchener, Cedric Ralph had a pair of goals as the Guelph Storm beat the Kitchener Rangers 6-3. Cam Hillis and Isaac Ratcliffe had a goal and an assist each for Guelph. 

In London, a 40-save performance from Justin Fazio lifted the Sarnia Sting to a 4-2 win over the London Knights. Anthony Salinitri and Drake Rymsha had a goal and an assist each for Sarnia.

In Oshawa, Pavel Gogolev had three goals and an assist as the Peterborough Petes beat the Oshawa Generals 8-4. Semyon Der-Arguchintsev had a goal and four assists for Peterborough. Bobby Dow added a goal and two assists for the Petes. Jack Studnicka had a goal and two assists for Oshawa.