Howdeshell, Frost pace Greyhounds to win

With a key piece out of the lineup, the Soo Greyhounds got big efforts from a pair of veterans offensively.

With Barrett Hayton out of the lineup, Keeghan Howdeshell and Morgan Frost combined for five goals as the Greyhounds picked up a 7-4 Ontario Hockey League victory over the Saginaw Spirit at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw.

With the Greyhounds trailing 1-0 in the second period, the pair scored 37 seconds apart to give the Greyhounds the lead and jump start a stretch that would see the team score six of the next seven goals in the contest.

“The second goal was a pretty goal by Jordan Sambrook and Morgan Frost,” Greyhounds Coach John Dean said. “It’s Greyhounds hockey and our guys love seeing those pretty goals. You could see the lift in our bench.

“Those two quick goals are a huge lift for your team,” Dean added.

Howdeshell finished the night with three goals and an assist while Frost would add a pair of goals and two assists, which included setting up a power play goal by Mac Hollowell late in the second period.

Among Howdeshell’s goals was a shorthanded marker 85 seconds into the third period that would give the Greyhounds a 4-2 lead at the time.

“It was a great pass by Frost,” Howdeshell said. “We got the momentum and kept rolling.”

“Howdeshell and Frost were pretty dynamic on the penalty kill all night and they went down and made a good play and Howdeshell finished it off,” Dean said. “I could feel our bench get a lift off that and on the other side there’s a little bit of deflation.”

Howdeshell, who has 20 goals in 28 games this season, now has seven goals in his last eight games and 12 points in that stretch

“He’s a horse,” Dean said of the overage forward. “The guys feed off of it. He can take over a game physically with and without the puck. When he gets the puck on his stick and decides to take it to the net, not too many people are going to stop him.”

Hollowell had a goal and an assist for the Greyhounds.

Rookie Alex Johnston also scored.

Matthew Villalta made 29 saves for the Greyhounds.

Cole Coskey had a pair of goals for the Spirit while Brady Gilmour set up three Saginaw goals. Blade Jenkins had a goal and an assist. Sault product Camaryn Baber had the other Spirit goal.

Cole Perfetti also had a pair of points for Saginaw with two assists.

Goaltender Ivan Prosvetov stopped 28 shots

“This league is tough to win in,” Spirit Coach Chris Lazary told the Spirit television broadcast. “We had control of the game there for a bit. (Nicholas) Porco hit a post that would have put us up 2-0.”

“We’ve got to learn to never fall asleep at the wheel,” Lazary added.

Originally expected to be in the lineup, Dean said Hayton “tweaked something in the morning skate.”

“(Missing the game) was more precautionary than anything,” Dean added.

Dean said Hayton is day-to-day and his status for Sunday’s road trip finale in Flint against the Firebirds was unknown.

The win helps the Greyhounds take a six-point lead over the Spirit in the OHL’s West Division. The Greyhounds improve to 16-7-4-1 while Saginaw falls to 14-10-1-2.

In other action around the OHL on Saturday, in Oshawa, Kyle Keyser stopped all 23 shots he faced as the Oshawa Generals blanked the Kingston Frontenacs 5-0. Allan McShane had two goals and an assist for Oshawa. Giovanni Vallati also had a pair of goals for the Generals.

In Hamilton, MacKenzie Entwistle’s goal at 11:19 of the second period was the eventual game-winner as the Hamilton Bulldogs beat the Windsor Spitfires 3-2. Entwistle finished the night with a pair of goals.

In Flint, Jamie Drysdale scored at 2:01 of overtime to give the Erie Otters a 6-5 win over the Flint Firebirds. Petr Cajka scored three times for the Otters while Drysdale had a goal and two assists. Ty Dellandrea scored twice for Flint.

In Owen Sound, Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist as the Owen Sound Attack beat the Barrie Colts 3-1. Rookie goaltender Andrew MacLean made 32 saves for Owen Sound. Maksim Zhukov stopped 39 shots for Barrie.