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Greyhounds take commanding lead over Firebirds

A win on Friday night at home would mean a trip to the second round of the OHL playoffs for the Soo Greyhounds
2017-03-29 Greyhounds at Flint NS
Soo Greyhounds forward David Miller, left, moments after scoring on Flint Firebirds goaltender Connor Hicks. Photo courtesy Natalie Shaver

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The Soo Greyhounds will return home with an opportunity to advance to the second round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs.

The Greyhounds will take the ice at the Essar Centre on Friday with a 3-1 series lead after a 5-2 win over the Flint Firebirds on Wednesday night at the Dort Federal Event Center in Flint.

The Greyhounds scored a pair of first period goals and opened up a 4-0 lead thanks to a pair of early goals in the second period to take a comfortable lead in the contest.

“Getting two quick ones early gave us confidence,” Greyhounds overage forward Bobby MacIntyre said of the goals early in the second period.

MacIntyre had a goal and an assist for the Greyhounds. Boris Katchouk, Morgan Frost, David Miller and Otto Makinen also scored for the Greyhounds. Sophomore forward Jack Kopacka assisted on a pair of goals.

MacIntyre spoke of the Greyhounds ability to use four lines and get production in various ways throughout games.

“Any team that can play four lines is going to benefit in the long run,” MacIntyre said.

The win was one that saw numerous positives for a Greyhounds team that was looking to take charge of the series.

“We had a lot more speed through the neutral zone and we used our speed to our advantage,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister. “We moved the puck quickly to our forwards so we could transition quicker. We competed hard. We battled on pucks. We created offensively but we did a lot of good things defensively too.”

“We were really strong defensively,” Bannister also said. “We didn’t have too many miscues. We didn’t spend a lot of time in the defensive zone. We were in and out pretty quick.”

Greyhounds goaltender Joseph Raaymakers made 28 saves.

“Joseph was really good,” Bannister said. “He looked confident in the net and he was solid.”

Bannister said Raaymakers will start game five on Friday night.

With discipline being an issue in the Greyhounds win in game three on Monday, Bannister said the Greyhounds “held our composure well” in game four.

Goaltender Connor Hicks made 31 saves.

Kole Sherwood and Everett Clark completed the Flint scoring.

Puck drop for game five on Friday night at the Essar Centre is set for 7:07 p.m.

*****

OTHER SCORES

In Kitchener, a three-goal third period was the difference as the Owen Sound Attack beat the Kitchener Rangers 7-4 to take a 3-1 series lead heading home for game five. Petrus Palmu scored three times for the Attack while Kevin Hancock and Cordell James chipped in with a goal and an assist each. Jonah Gadjovich and Matthew Struthers also scored for Owen Sound, who got three assists from Nick Suzuki and a pair of helpers from Sean Durzi in the game.

Kitchener goaltender Luke Opilka made 64 saves for the Rangers, who were outshot 71-20 in the game. The Attack outshot the Rangers 30-5 in the opening period and 29-5 in the final 20 minutes. Opilka has made 145 saves in the last three games of the series.

Connor Bunnaman had a pair of goals to pace the Rangers offensively. Riley Damiani had a goal and an assist while Jonathan Yantsis also scored.

The series now shifts to Owen Sound for game five on Friday night.

In Erie, the Erie Otters capped a four-game sweep of the Sarnia Sting thanks to a 9-3 victory Wednesday night. Dylan Strome scored three times for Erie. Taylor Raddysh added a goal and four assists. Alex DeBrincat also assisted on four Otters goals. Kyle Maksimovich had a goal and an assist for Erie. Anthony Cirelli, Darren Raddysh, T.J. Fergus and Haydn Hopkins also scored for Erie.

Jaden Lindo had a goal and an assist for Sarnia. Franco Sproviero and Ryan McGregor also scored for the Sting.


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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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