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Greyhounds remain in playoff hunt with road win (video)

Multi-point performances from four players helped the Greyhounds to a win in Kingston
 

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It wasn’t the ideal start but for the Soo Greyhounds, a little bit of confidence offensively of late has been something to help the team through any in-game struggles.

After going scoreless through the opening period and falling behind midway through period two, the Greyhounds scored five consecutive goals en route to a 5-2 Ontario Hockey League win over the Kingston Frontenacs on Friday night at the Leon’s Centre in Kingston.

“We’ve been talking a lot about not having to win the game on one shift,” said Greyhounds coach John Dean. “That means we don’t have to go outside of our toolbox. We don’t have to go outside of our game plan.”

“We stuck with what we’re good at,” added Greyhounds forward Rory Kerins, who had a goal and two assists in the contest. “In the (first) intermission, we relaxed a bit and looked at what we needed to do better and it improved our chances. With our team and our skillset, it translates to goals.”

Dean added that it comes down to “being patient, trusting our process, and trusting our style of play.”

After Ethan Ritchie opened the scoring for the Frontenacs midway through the second period, Jacob LeGuerrier tied the game for the Greyhounds before Zack Trott gave the Greyhounds the lead for good with 2:10 to go in the frame.

“Those are huge,” Dean said. “We’ve been talking a lot lately about going into the third period with a lead.”

“To watch Leggy score, it really pumped up the bench,” Dean added. “He’s been unbelievable for the weekend.

Dean went on to say he felt LeGuerrier was “the best player on the ice tonight.”

The goals, scored 1:25 apart, helped the Greyhounds rebound from a start that saw the team struggle to generate offence at times.

“You could see as the game went on, we started to put our foot on the gas a little bit,” Dean said.

LeGuerrier, Cole MacKay, and Joe Carroll had a goal and an assist each for the Greyhounds.

Overage goaltender Bailey Brkin got the start in goal for the Greyhounds and stopped 23 shots in the win.

Nick Wong had the other goal for the Frontenacs, scoring a power play marker with 2:23 to go in regulation time.

Kingston goaltender Ryan Dugas made 26 saves.

Greyhounds defenceman Billy Constantinou missed Friday’s game due to injury.

The 18-year-old was injured in Thursday’s game in Peterborough and is out with a lower-body injury.

Dean said Constantinou’s injury will keep him out day-to-day and wouldn’t say if the blueliner would be ready to go for the trip finale on Sunday.

Winners of three straight games, the Greyhounds improve to 23-23-2-0 and pull to within a single point of the Erie Otters for the final playoff spot in the OHL’s Western Conference.

The Otters were in action on Friday, dropping an overtime decision to the Flint Firebirds.

Erie is in Saginaw on Saturday night and have two games in hand on the Greyhounds, who return to action on Sunday afternoon in Ottawa against the 67’s.

The Frontenacs fall to 14-27-2-2 with the loss.

In other action around the OHL on Friday night, in Flint, Riley McCourt scored at 3:57 of overtime to give the Flint Firebirds a 4-3 win over the Erie Otters. McCourt scored three times for the Firebirds while goaltender Anthony Popovich made 39 saves. Erie forced overtime thanks to a goal by Maxim Golod with 1:22 to go in regulation time.

In Hamilton, four unanswered goals lifted the Ottawa 67’s to a 5-2 win over the Hamilton Bulldogs. Marco Rossi had a goal and two assists for Ottawa

In Mississauga, Cole Schwindt assisted on four goals as the Mississauga Steelheads beat the North Bay Battalion 6-2. James Hardie had two goals and an assist for Mississauga. North Bay goaltender Cameron Lamour made 40 saves.

In St. Catharines, Evan Vierling had a goal and three assists while Brandt Clarke assisted on four goals as the Barrie Colts beat the Niagara IceDogs 8-2. Tyson Foerster added two goals and an assist for Barrie.

In Sarnia, Danil Antropov had two goals and an assist as the Saginaw Spirit doubled up the Sarnia Sting 6-3. Ryan Suzuki chipped in with a pair of goals for Saginaw.

In Sudbury, the Guelph Storm scored five unanswered goals to beat the Sudbury Wolves 5-2. Pavel Gogolev had two goals and an assist for the Storm. Nico Daws made 32 saves for Guelph.

In Kitchener, Mike Petizian had a pair of goals as the Kitchener Rangers beat the Owen Sound Attack 2-1. Declan McDonnell assisted on both Kitchener goals. Rangers goaltender Jacob Ingham made 38 saves.

In London, Connor McMichael had three goals and an assist as the London Knights beat the Windsor Spitfires 7-4. Luke Evangelista chipped in with a goal and three assists for London. Defenceman Ryan Merkley assisted on three London goals. Egor Afanasyev scored twice for Windsor.

In Oshawa, Philip Tomasino had two goals and an assist as the Oshawa Generals beat the Peterborough Petes 7-2. Kyle MacLean had a pair of goals for Oshawa.


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Brad Coccimiglio

About the Author: Brad Coccimiglio

A graduate of Loyalist College’s Sports Journalism program, Brad Coccimiglio’s work has appeared in The Hockey News as well as online at FoxSports.com in addition to regular freelance work with SooToday before joining the team full time.
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