Greyhounds outcompeted for 30 minutes, lose in overtime

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It looked good early for the Soo Greyhounds, but the finish paled in comparison.

The Greyhounds gave up a goal early in overtime Friday night as the Oshawa Generals picked up a 4-3 victory over the Sault at the GFL Memorial Gardens, costing the Greyhounds a crucial point in the OHL standings.

It was a night in which the Greyhounds looked much like the team that fans saw last weekend in wins over Peterborough and Kitchener in the first half of the contest, but the final 30 minutes saw things fall apart for the home team.

“The second half of the game completely got away from us,” said Greyhounds coach John Dean. “Overhandling the puck in the D zone. When Caeden (Carlisle) went out (due to a major penalty in the second period), our D corps really let us down. We stopped playing fast and started overhandling pucks. Our forwards at the blueline started mismanaging the puck significantly. We stopped putting pucks at their goalie for some reason and started to over-pass the puck.”

Dean added that he felt the Generals outcompeted the Greyhounds in the second half of the game.

Dean also said that, as well as the Generals played in the game, many of the issues for the Greyhounds in the second half of the game were self-inflicted.

Dean added that he felt “there’s a handful of individuals that really let us down.”

“Those guys have to look hard in the mirror and make sure they play a consistent brand of hockey,” Dean added.

For the Generals, coach Derek Laxdal was pleased with the performance of his team in the second half of the game as it adjusted to the pace the Greyhounds were playing at.

“Sault Ste. Marie started really well,” Laxdal said. “We were back on our heels most of the first period. As the game started to ware on, we started to take the game over. We had a really good third period.”

Laxdal added that he felt his team didn’t handle the Greyhounds speed well early on in the game.

Both teams were forced to deal with a lengthy review early in the third when a Generals chance was waved off on the ice before the play stopped and it went up to video review for confirmation.

The Generals seemed to rebound well from it.

“We just said, ‘Whatever happens, we’ve got to be on our toes here,’” Laxdal said. “Our guys did a great job on the forecheck retrieving pucks and put their D in a little duress and they turned some pucks over. Give our guys credit, we didn’t quick until the end.”

For the Greyhounds, Dean said the Greyhounds “tried to use it as a reset on the bench. Clearly didn’t work.”

“The frustrating part is, everything we did poorly was all within our control,” Dean added.

The Greyhounds opened the scoring on the power play 4:06 into the game as Gavin Hayes beat Oshawa starter Noah Bender from the right circle on a one-timer. Jack Beck started the play with a cross-ice pass to Hayes.

Oshawa tied the game with 3:55 to go in the period after a Greyhounds turnover in the neutral zone. Dylan Roobroeck took the puck into the Sault zone on a 2-on-1 and hit Tristan Delisle with a pass as the latter was going to the net. Delisle's chance was stopped by goaltender Charlie Schenkel, but Roobroeck scored on the rebound to even the game at one.

Hayes scored his second of the night 5:12 into the second period when he jumped on a mishandled puck in close by Bender and put it past the Oshawa netminder.

The Generals tied the game 1:32 later as Callum Ritchie scored on a loose puck after Luca D'Amato initial shot from the top of the left circle hit a body on the way to the net.

The Greyhounds made it a 3-2 game just 51 seconds later as Jack Beck beat Bender from the right circle on a one-timer after a pass from Hayes. 

The Generals thought they had the game tied at three in the early stages of the third, but a chance by Rasmus Kumpulainen was waved off following a review.

The Generals proceeded to tie the game with 2:34 to go in regulation as Kumpulainen grabbed a turnover in the Sault zone, skated into the left circle, and beat Schenkel stick side.

The Generals wasted little time winning the game in the extra frame as Ritchie got the puck off the opening faceoff win after taking a pass from Beckett Sennecke. Ritchie skated in and beat Schenkel on a deke seven seconds into the extra frame.

Hayes paced the Greyhounds with two goals and an assist while Beck had one of each.

Schenkel stopped 25 shots.

In addition to the two-goal night for Ritchie, Roobroeck had a goal and an assist for the Generals.

Bender made 32 saves.

With the loss, the Greyhounds fall to 38-16-3-1 and fall five points behind the Saginaw Spirit for top spot in the OHL's West Division after the Spirit picked up an overtime win in Brantford Friday night.

The Greyhounds are slated to return to action Sunday afternoon at home against the Sarnia Sting.

Saginaw returns to action Saturday night in Owen Sound before facing Guelph Sunday afternoon.

Oshawa improves to 31-19-7-2 on the season and pulls to within three points of Brantford for top spot in the East Division.

Travis Hayes and Marco Mignosa missed the game for the Greyhounds due to injury. 

Dean said Hayes is out week-to-week with an upper body injury while Mignosa is out day-to-day after reaggravating an earlier injury.