Greyhounds stifle Spirit in road trip finale (video)

As far as defensive efforts go, it was about as good as they could have hoped for and, when they needed it, they got a save from their goaltender.

Tucker Tynan picked up his first Ontario Hockey League shutout in the process as the Greyhounds blanked the Saginaw Spirit 3-0 on Saturday night at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw.

“It feels great,” Tynan said of getting the shutout. “I came close a bunch of times and this is the first time it (happened).”

Tynan credited the defensive effort of his teammates in the victory as well.

“You just have to trust the guys in front of you,” Tynan said. “That’s the biggest thing. They do their job and I do my job. Usually, if you play the right way for 60 minutes, that will usually be the outcome for us especially with the team we have.”

“He was very steady, very calm,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said off Tynan. “When he’s really good, he’s very vocal with our bench and he was very vocal tonight. We gave up more than people realize. We gave up some chances in the slot area where his positioning was so good, it forced them to miss the net. That’s an underrated skillset of his is where he got set. It really gives them nothing to shoot at.”

As strong as the team was defensively, Dean said it showed an understanding of just what the team needs as games get tougher down the stretch.

“There was a lot of commitment to getting above the puck tonight and rush coverage and playing hard and competing for ice,” Dean said. “We’re starting to see a team that understands what it takes to win at this level and what a group effort looks like.”

Dean also said that, with the score 2-0 after a pair of goals in the second period, the team “felt very comfortable” at that point.

Playing the game short-staffed at forward due to injuries, Dean added that he was impressed with “guys contributing in a significant way that usually don’t see those opportunities and they capitalized on them.”

Dean credited a number of the rookies for their efforts in the victory as well.

“We talk a lot about our leadership, but did our young guys ever step up the last two nights,” Dean added.

After a scoreless opening period, the Greyhounds got on the board 60 seconds into the second period when Kalvyn Watson deflected a point shot by Ryan O’Rourke past Saginaw goaltender Andrew Oke.

The play started as rookie forward Justin Cloutier circled the Saginaw zone and then dropped the puck to O’Rourke near the right point. O’Rourke walked the line to the centre of the ice before putting the puck on net where it was deflected by Watson.

“We kind of set ourselves up for that with the first period, putting the pressure on them and trying to get in their face,” O’Rourke said of the goal. “Coming to me, I was just trying to look for a lane and get it down to the net. It was a great job by Kal alone there, getting off his guy to tip it in. It gave us a lot of momentum and gave us a lot of confidence.

O’Rourke made it 2-0 Greyhounds at 17:59 of the second period when he took a cross-slot pass in the right faceoff circle from Rory Kerins on the power play and beat Oke high short side.

Overage forward Cole MacKay made it 3-0 with 3:11 to go in the third when he blocked a shot defensively and proceeded to score into an empty net at the other seconds later.

O’Rourke finished the night with a goal and an assist to pace the Greyhounds offensively.

Oke made 27 saves for the Spirit in the loss.

The Greyhounds return to action with a pair of games at home next weekend, which begins a stretch that will see the team play four of its next five games on home ice.

Next weekend the Greyhounds will host the Windsor Spitfires for a pair of games. The teams will meet on Saturday night in a 7:07 p.m. start before wrapping up the weekend next Sunday afternoon in a 2:07 p.m. start at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

The Greyhounds will take a 33-18-6-1 record into those games.

Following Saturday’s game, the Greyhounds sit second in the OHL’s West Division with 73 points, trailing the Flint Firebirds by two points for top spot in the division.

The Firebirds dropped a 6-3 decision against Windsor on Saturday at home. The result meant the Spitfires keep pace with the Greyhounds and remain in third in the division, one point behind the Greyhounds while also gaining ground on the Firebirds.

Flint and Windsor are scheduled to meet again on Sunday in Windsor.

The Spirit come out of Saturday’s game with the Greyhounds with a record of 18-38-1-0. Saginaw has lost five straight and sit 10^th in the OHL’s Western Conference.

On the injury front for the Greyhounds, Marco Mignosa missed all three games on the road for the team this week. Ethan Montroy dressed for Friday’s game in Flint but left early in the game and did not return.

Rookie forward Owen Allard also sat out Saturday’s game due to illness.

Dean said Montroy is currently day-to-day with a lower body injury while Mignosa is week-to-week “but that could change to day-to-day soon.”

Dean added that the team is hopeful that Allard will return to the lineup relatively quickly.

“We’ve got six days of rest here before we play Windsor and hopefully, we see some bodies back in the lineup,” Dean said.

The Greyhounds will also get Tyler Savard back in the lineup next weekend after the rookie forward missed both games this weekend due to a two-game suspension.