Greyhounds regain winning form

The Soo Greyhounds could breathe a little easier on Tuesday night after gaining a badly needed win.

The struggling Greyhounds showed more jump and enthusiasm to defeat another struggling team in the Saginaw Spirit 4-2 in Ontario Hockey League action at Memorial Gardens.

The teams will battle each other again on New Year's Eve in Saginaw at 7:30 p.m.

The victory ends a three-game losing streak and improves the team's record to 18-20-1-1 and a one point lead over Windsor for third place in the West Division.

After a scoreless first period, the Greyhounds put together a solid second period to jump into the lead. The Hounds smothered the Spirit, created several quality scoring chances and peppered Spirit goaltender Eric Pfligler with 23 shots.

"I thought we came out with a lot of jump in the first ten minutes of the game and again in the second period. But we took some penalties in the first period which turned the tide in their favour and we can't do that," said Greyhounds head coach Marty Abrams.

"The encouraging sign is that some the things we have been trying to preach in practise are coming into the game. We have worked diligently in the last couple of weeks of driving to the net and creating traffic.

"This is probably the first game all season that we have had borderline goalie interference which is a good thing. In the second period, we created more grade A chances than we have in any period this year. We had 15 quality chances that period."

Scott Dobben, the game's first star, opened the scoring for the Greyhounds 3:39 into the period when he collected a juicy rebound from a Tyler Kennedy shot and found the open net.

Dobben, who later added an assist, used his speed for another goal midway through the period when he took a lead pass from Jeff Larsh and dashed in behind Spirit defenseman Phil Kozak. Dobben deked Pfligler and went to the backhand to put the locals ahead 2-0.

Saginaw got on the scoreboard with less than six seconds remaining in the period when Justin McCutcheon cut the lead to 2-1.

Hounds rookie centre Andrew Desjardins stole the show in the third period and scored his first two OHL goals in the frame to seal the win.

After Nick Lees tied the game for Saginaw early in the period, Desjardins put the home side ahead to stay with a wrap around shot at 9:46 before adding his second with three minutes remaining.

"I'm not surprised with (Desjardins') game. Anybody in this organization who has seen him play on a day-to-day basis really believes that he is going to have a tremendous second half of the season," said Abrams.

"It's not by accident that he scored twice tonight. He works hard everyday in practise and in the gym and good things happen to players like that. He was a guy I picked out in the opening day of training camp that was going to be a solid OHLer. It takes time but he is starting to get some rewards now."

Greyhounds goaltender Jakub Cech, who is expected to make the start again on Wednesday, was also strong and stopped 27 of the 29 shots he faced, including several in the first period to keep the game scoreless.

Pfligler, the game's second star, kept Saginaw in the game throughout and made 44 saves on 48 Greyhound shots.

The Greyhounds found the win column despite being unable fill a complete lineup card.

With Jeff Carter away at the World Junior Championships, Chris Lawrence at the World Under-17 Challenge, Matt Manias nursing a knee injury and Brad Staubitz out with a shoulder problem, the Greyhounds could only dress 19 of a possible 20 players.

"I'm disappointed with the lineup that we have been forced to dress. We go in today and have to scratch two 19 year-old defenseman, we're a forward short and it is difficult to ice a competitive team. It is very discouraging but these guys found a way to overcome that," said Abrams.

The game attracted 3,071 fans to mark the largest crowd of the season for the Greyhounds. It was only the second time all season that the team has attracted more than 3,000 spectators.

The Greyhounds return home for a pair of games this weekend. The Kitchener Rangers visit on Friday for a 7:30 p.m. start while the Windsor Spitfires visit on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Memorial Gardens.

In other OHL action on Tuesday, Ryan Callahan scored twice and setup another as Guelph edged Erie 3-2. Bobby Chaumont scored twice and added an assist as Sudbury gained a 4-4 tie with Toronto while goaltender Anthony Guadagnolo made 39 saves to lead Ottawa past Kingston 5-3.