Hounds foiled by Knights in a shootout (video)

The Soo Greyhounds displayed another gritty, hard working effort on Sunday night at the Steelback Centre but could not reap the full reward.

Taking the OHL's best in the London Knights to a shootout, the Hounds eventually fell 3-2 with the Knights taking the win in an extra round of shooters.

The Greyhounds came out of the gate working hard and it paid off early as Matt Lyall finally beat Knights goaltender Stephane Cesar on a goal mouth scramble on the power play 5:04 into the opening period.

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Before the period was out, the Knights vaunted power play, which was a clear league leader heading into the contest, went to work as David Meckler was set up in the slot and his shot beat Hounds starting netminder Kyle Gajewski at 11:42.

In the second period, the Hounds would regain the lead at 13:45 as Chris MacKinnon tipped in his first Ontario Hockey League goal on the power play. But 22 seconds later the Knights would tie the game at 2-2 as a clearing attempt found the stick of rookie sensation Sam Gagner and he made no mastake with a shot past Gajewski.

In the final frame, both teams traded chances at each end but Gajewski and Cesar stood tall to send the game into overtime.

Dustin Jeffrey had a glorious chance to end the game 50 seconds into overtime as he snuck in behind the London defense but couldn't slide the puck past Cesar. Later, Gajewski made a huge save on Matt Clarke to preserve the tie.

In the shootout, Cody Thornton put the Hounds ahead on their first shot but Gagner came through in the clutch with a beautiful deke on Gajewski on London's final attempt to send the game to an extra round after Jeffrey was stopped.

Meckler followed with the game winner on the same move as Gagner. Lyall was stopped on the final shot to end the game.

The Greyhounds outshot the Knights 39-33 in front of 4,469 fans.

Brandon MacLean, Andrew Desjardins and Lyall all had very strong games for the Hounds, who were effective on the power play especially down the stretch when killing a questionable kneeing penalty to MacLean.

With their league leading fourth shootout loss of the season, the Greyhounds gain a point to move to 15-12-0-4 on the year for 34 points and a sixth place standing in the western conference. The Hounds sit four points out of third place, six points out of second and 11 behind leading London.

The Greyhounds are back in action next weekend with a home-and-home set against the second place Saginaw Spirit. The teams open Friday night in Saginaw at 7:11 p.m. before meeting at the Steelback Centre on Sunday at 7 p.m.

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