Hounds win shootout over Petes

The Soo Greyhounds saw their offense break out in a big way against the Peterborough Petes on Sunday night.

In a game that brought excitement to the fans and grey hairs to the coaches, the Hounds extended their unbeaten streak to three games with an entertaining 7-4 win over the Petes in front of 2,898 spectators at Memorial Gardens.

The victory allowed the Hounds to capture five of a possible six points during their three-game home stand. The locals opened the stand with a 4-2 win over Sudbury on Wednesday before tying the Plymouth Whalers 1-1 on Friday.

The seven goals for the Greyhounds marked their highest output of the season, bettering the five goals scored in victories over Kitchener and Saginaw.

"I thought we played a strong game from the red line in and not as strong from the red line back," said Greyhounds head coach Craig Hartsburg. "It gives us something to build on positively and shows us some areas that we need to keep improving on. But I thought we got a little bit from everybody tonight."

Jeff Carter, the game's first star, opened the scoring 8:03 into the first period with his seventh goal of the season on a feed from Jeff Larsh.

Martin Tuma notched his fifth of the year at 15:07 when his point shot rang off the inside of the post and past Petes goaltender Eero Kilpelainen for a 2-0 lead.

The Petes answered 2:10 later as Jordan Beljo beat Hounds goaltender Jakub Cech to close the gap to 2-1 after one period.

In the second period, Reg Thomas gave the Hounds a 3-1 lead with a power play goal 1:03 into the frame. Thomas collected a rebound off the end boards and found the open net with Kilpelainen out of position.

The Petes then rallied to tie the game at 3-3 with two power play goals from Jamie Tardif and Aaron Dawson, who deflected a puck that dribbled past Cech.

"It seems as if (penalty killing) is our Achilles heel right now and it's something we have to keep addressing and fix. We're giving up goals and it's not a huge breakdown but it's fundamental errors where we don't get the puck out when we should and it comes right down our throat and they score. We have to do a better job of doing the little things when we are killing penalties," said Hartsburg.

Jason Pitton restored the Greyhounds lead at 18:27 when Tyler Kennedy beat a roaming Kilpelainen to a loose puck behind the net and fed Pitton with an open net to shoot at.

"I thought Kennedy's line was real good on the forecheck," added Hartsburg. "They got pressure on the puck right away and they scored two goals because of it. It proves that when we get the puck deep and we pursue it, we can do some good things."

Just 46 seconds later, the Petes tied the game as Tardif converted a cross ice pass from Jordan Morrison into the open cage.

Carter's second goal of the game 33 seconds later gave the Hounds, who outshot the Petes 18-8 in the period, a 5-4 lead heading into the second intermission.

"(Carter's goal) was huge. We probably deserved a better fate than being tied at that point but we were sloppy in our end and we gave up the lead," said Hartsburg. "It was a huge goal and I think it gave us more energy going out into the third knowing we had the lead rather than blowing a lead."

Pitton opened the scoring in the third period with his second of the night at 3:52 before Andrew Desjardins collected a rebound and scored his third of the season for a 7-4 lead.

"There is not going to be any easy games in this league with every team being equal," said Carter. "(Peterborough) has a lot of drafted players and it was a tough game tonight so it was nice to come out with a win.

"The coaches have put a game plan out on the board and I think a lot of guys are starting to buy into it. This was a big weekend for us getting five of six points and the room is a lot happier when we win games. We're hoping this will be a turning point for us."

The Greyhounds, who improve to 6-8-3 for 15 points on the season and move to within four points of first place Windsor with two games in hand, outshot the Petes 46-34.

Following a road game in Sudbury on Tuesday at 7 p.m., the Hounds return home for a two-game stand next weekend as the Toronto St. Michael's Majors visit on Friday at 7:30 p.m. before Sarnia invades Memorial Gardens on Sunday at 7 p.m.

*** BURGESS SINGS:

Canadian singing legend Michael Burgess performed the national anthem and ceremonial opening faceoff on Sunday.

To see Burgess in action along with additional game photos, click the link at the bottom of this story.

(All photos provided courtesy of Jim Egan.)