Hounds return home with three of six points

Despite a 4-3 shootout loss to the London Knights on Sunday night, the Soo Greyhounds are returning home from a three-game road trip with a decent return.

Facing three of the top five teams in the Ontario Hockey League's western conference, the Greyhounds recorded three of a possible six points.

On Thursday, the Hounds defeated the Sarnia Sting before being shutout in Plymouth on Saturday and grabbing a point from the Knights on Sunday.

The Greyhounds, 7-2-0-1 in their last 10 games, now sit at 24-20-0-5 on the season for 53 points and a seventh place standing in the western conference.

The locals, who have 19 regular season games remaining, sit a point ahead of Owen Sound, four points behind Guelph and Sarnia for fifth position and seven points behind fourth place Saginaw.

In London, the Greyhounds held the lead twice but the Knights rallied to tie the game late in regulation time and eventually secured the win with the lone goal in a shootout.

Brandon MacLean opened the scoring for the Hounds in the first period but rookie sniper Patrick Kane fired home back-to-back markers for his 39th and 40th goals of the season and a 2-1 London lead after one period.

In the second period, Andrew Campbell tied the game with a power play goal before Brandon Biggers added another to give the Soo a 3-2 advantage heading to the third.

The Knights' other rookie sensation Sam Gagner sent the game into overtime with his 25th of the year with 2:22 remaining in regulation time.

Gagner would then scored the only goal of the shootout to lift the Knights to the win. Greyhound shooters Jiri Tlusty, Cody Thornton and Dustin Jeffrey were turned aside by London goaltender Steve Mason.

Kyle Gajewski started in goal for the Hounds and faced 39 London shots while Mason faced 43 shots.

The Greyhounds now return home for a pair of games next weekend at the Steelback Centre. Saginaw visits on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Windsor comes to town on Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. faceoff.

*** GAME SUMMARY:

Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds 3 at London Knights 4 (SO) - Jan 28, 2007 - John Labatt Centre

1st Period

Scoring - 1. Sault Ste. Marie, B. MacLean (11) (J. Livingston, A. Desjardins) 11:18 2. London, P. Kane (39) (S. Kostitsyn, T. Solomon) 16:24 3. London, P. Kane (40) (D. Meckler, S. Kostitsyn) 19:02 PP

Penalties - C. Thornton Ssm (checking from behind, checking from behind, fighting) 0:42, J. Foreman Ldn (instigator, fighting, 10-minute misconduct) 0:42, T. Perry Ldn (interference) 3:54, R. Drummond Ldn (holding) 8:43, C. Thornton Ssm (slashing) 13:24, J. Taylor Ldn (slashing) 13:24, T. Cuthbert Ssm (hooking) 17:46, M. Quesnele Ssm (roughing) 17:46

2nd Period

Scoring - 4. Sault Ste. Marie, A. Campbell (4) (J. Tlusty, D. Jeffrey) 4:13 PP 5. Sault Ste. Marie, B. Biggers (3) (J. Lalonde, B. Halstead) 13:51

Penalties - J. Foreman Ldn (interference) 3:26, C. MacKinnon Ssm (holding opp. stick) 5:50, S. Gagner Ldn (tripping) 6:48

3rd Period

Scoring - 6. London, S. Gagner (25) (S. Kostitsyn, S. Mason) 17:38

Penalties - B. Biggers Ssm (fighting) 3:01, J. Shine Ldn (fighting) 3:01, J. Livingston Ssm (checking from behind) 7:42, D. Kuchejda Ssm (tripping) 14:03, C. Thornton Ssm (tripping) 18:04

OT Period

Scoring - No Scoring Penalties - No Penalties

Shootout

Round 1 - SSM - Jiri Tlusty - No Round 1 - LDN - Sergei Kostitsyn - No Round 2 - SSM - Cody Thornton - No Round 2 - LDN - Sam Gagner - Yes Round 3 - SSM - Dustin Jeffrey - No

SSM Shots: 14 23 5 1 0 TOTAL: 43 LDN Shots: 15 3 18 2 1 TOTAL: 39

Power Play Conversion Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds 1-4. London Knights 1-7.

Goaltenders

Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds Gajewski 20-16-0-2 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 65:00 SV: 35 GA: 3 [SL]

London Knights Mason 30-10-1-3 Start: 1st 0:00 Min: 65:00 SV: 40 GA: 3 [W]

Start : 6:04 PM End : 8:32 PM Attendance : 9090

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