Offensive struggles costly on road for Greyhounds

Shots were hard to come by, especially early on, but they found a way to keep themselves in the game.

In the end, it wasn’t enough as the Soo Greyhounds dropped a 6-3 Ontario Hockey League decision to the Sarnia Sting at Progressive Auto Sales Arena in Sarnia.

It was a night that saw the team get a strong performance from goaltender Samuel Ivanov, who kept the team in the game through 40 minutes as the Greyhounds were outshot 25-9 but trailed 4-3 heading into the third.

“We definitely didn’t generate enough through the first couple periods,” said overage forward Kalvyn Watson, adding that “the third period was better for sure.”

“We had a pretty solid response and put ourselves in a position to possibly win a game,” Watson said.

“We didn’t generate through two periods,” said Greyhounds coach John Dean.

“We were very passive in the first 40 when our guys were trying to stay in attention to detail,” Dean said of the opening two periods.

Dean added that he was happy with the third period and also credited Ivanov, calling the second-year netminder “fantastic.”

“He was not pulled last game for his quality of play and that’s why we gave him the net back,” Dean said. “For him to give us the whole 60, but especially that first 40, he gave us a chance to be in the game.”

“Sammy was unreal tonight,” added Watson. “He made some really big saves and kept us in the game for sure.”

Ivanov said, “it feels good to have a game like this after I got pulled.”

“I felt like I played very calm and just reacted in the moment,” Ivanov also said.

For the Sting, the win wasn’t perfect, but there was still a lot to like.

“They’re pretty desperate there,” overage forward Nolan Burke said in a post-game interview with YourTV. “We came out really good in the first and in the second, we kind of got away from our game a little bit, but it’s good that we came out and closed in the third.”

The Greyhounds opened the scoring as overage defenceman Ryan Thompson jumped on a loose puck in the right faceoff circle and beat Sarnia goaltender Nicholas Surzycia high short side at 13:43 of the opening period.

Sarnia tied the game in the final minute of the opening period when defenceman Ethan Ritchie took a pass in the high slot from Cooper Way below the goalline and beat Ivanov glove side.

Sarnia took a 2-1 lead early in the second period when Ethan Del Mastro stepped around Brenden Sirizzotti in the high slot and beat Ivanov stick side just 1:14 into the period.

Sarnia appeared to take a 3-1 lead 36 seconds later when Sasha Pastujov attempted to make a pass into the slot and it hit the skate of Marko Sikic of the Sting. Pastujov followed the play up and scored on the loose puck, beating Ivanov glove side, but the goal was waved off following a video review.

Luca Del Bel Belluz officially made it a 3-1 game when he scored on a loose puck at the side of the Sault goal, beating Ivanov after Ty Voit’s initial shot on the play was stopped by the Sault netminder and Burke had the rebound deflect off him to Del Bel Belluz at 8:34.

Pastujov would eventually score for the Sting to make it a 4-1 game when he scored on a loose puck in close after Sikic grabbed a rebound of a Nolan Dillingham point shot and slide the puck into the slot from below the goalline before Pastujov capitalized at 12:36.

The Greyhounds made it a two-goal game just over four minutes later when Marco Mignosa took a short pass in the right faceoff circle from Andrew Gibson and beat Surzycia 5-hole.

With 11 seconds to go in the period and the Greyhounds on the power play, Bryce McConnell-Barker beat Surzycia from the left circle stick side to make it a one-goal game.

Buke made it 5-3 Sarnia in the third when he beat Ivanov in tight on a rebound after the Sault netminder made the initial stop on overage forward on the play at 11:02.

Marcus Limpar-Lantz capped off the scoring in the final minute of regulation with an empty net goal for the Sting.

Ivanov finished the night with 34 saves for the Greyhounds while Surzycia stopped 14 for the Sting.

Burke had a goal and an assist offensively for the Sting while Sikic, Way, and Ryan Mast had a pair of assists each.

The Greyhounds return to action on Saturday night on the road as the team travels to Saginaw to take on the Spirit at the Dow Event Center.

The Greyhounds will take an 18-29-9-6 record into Saturday’s game.

The loss by the Greyhounds meant the Flint Firebirds officially clinched a playoff spot while having the night off.

Despite a 7-4 loss at home to the Windsor Spitfires, the Guelph Storm also clinched playoff spots in the Western Conference thanks to the Greyhounds loss.

Thanks to an 8-3 win over the Owen Sound Attack at home combined with the Greyhounds loss, the Kitchener Rangers also clinched a playoff spot and moved one point ahead of the Attack in the process.

With the loss, the Attack drop into eighth in the conference and need a single point to clinch a playoff spot and officially knock the Greyhounds out of the playoff race.

Sarnia improves to 35-17-5-2 with the win and sit six points behind the Spitfires for top spot in the OHL’s West Division and second in the Western Conference with a game in hand.

Notes: Greyhounds defenceman Kirill Kudryavtsev signed an entry level contract with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks on Friday afternoon.

The sophomore defenceman has six goals and 45 points this season with the Greyhounds and has set career highs in goals, assists (39), and points this season.

Friday’s game marked a return to the lineup for Gibson, who had been out of the lineup since suffering an injury in a game against the North Bay Battalion on Jan. 12.

“I was really impressed,” Dean said of the rookie defenceman. “I was worried because there’s all these expectations put on Gibby because he’s had such a great year, but for a guy to be sitting out two months, I was worried. I didn’t want him to put too much pressure on himself to be elite game one. He was great. He had a great assist on the goal, made some great exit plays. I couldn’t ask for a better first game back.”