Return home a good one for Greyhounds

A team that has been on a roll away from home, the Soo Greyhounds have been looking to bring the same type of play to the GFL Memorial Gardens.

On Sunday afternoon, the team appeared to take a step in doing so.

After a quick start, the Greyhounds skated to a 6-2 Ontario Hockey League win Sunday afternoon at the GFL Memorial Gardens over the Erie Otters.

Greyhounds coach John Dean said he felt his team brought “intensity, passion, effort, (and) compete” to the game for the most part in the win.

“There were some lulls,” Dean said. “Erie, to their credit, is one of the hardest working teams in the league right until the final whistle.”

Dean added that he was “super happy with our group.”

“It was a pretty complete game,” Dean said.

Dean credited the Otters with forcing the Greyhounds into turnovers at times in the game as well.

The Greyhounds coach added that he felt the Otters forced the Greyhounds to turn over the puck moreso in the third period in pushing to try to get back into the game.

“They played a really good third,” Dean said of the Otters. “They really came, especially the last five or ten minutes. They really pressed us, and our goalie had to play well for us.”

Dean added that, despite the turnovers, “we asked for compete, passion, and intensity and that’s what we got from the group.”

“We’ve talked about playing a full sixty the whole year, especially at home,” added forward Justin Cloutier. “At home we haven’t been playing up to a standard. Today we had a great full sixty and gave our crowd something to cheer for.”

Cloutier added that the start, after a big save by goaltender Landon Miller early on, was critical as well.

“That’s another issue we’ve addressed is our starts,” Cloutier said. “We had a team meeting (on Saturday) and talked that our starts have been an issue. Today we overcame that. We did a good job.”

For the Otters, the game wasn’t an easy one from the start.

“They were first on pucks all day. They seemed to have a lot more energy than we did,” said Erie coach Stan Butler. “When you play a team like them that’s a quick team and you’re chasing the game like we were all game, you’re going to get the result like we did today.”

Butler added that the start was a tough one for the Otters in the loss.

“They got two real quick goals and we’ve got a young defence and they seemed to lose confidence,” Butler said.

Butler added that he felt the game is “a good learning experience for us.”

The Greyhounds opened the scoring 1:41 into the game as Caeden Carlisle jumped on a loose puck in the slot and beat Erie goaltender Ben Gaudreau stick side, handcuffing the Otters netminder.

Marco Mignosa made it 2-0 just 1:59 later as he beat Gaudreau 5-hole on a breakaway after taking a pass from Matthew Virgilio.

The Greyhounds made it a 3-0 game 4:21 into the second period as Cloutier took a pass in the slot from Gavin Hayes and beat Erie goaltender Jacob Gibbons, who entered the game at the start of the second period.

Erie got on the board at 8:55 of the second period as Sam Alfano took a pass from Malcolm Spence from below the goalline and beat Landon Miller from the left circle.

Gavin Hayes made it a three-goal game at 11:41 at he beat Gibbons with a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from Jack Beck.

Erie cut the Sault lead back to two after Pano Fimis beat Miller from the slot high stick side off a turnover at 8:54 of the third period.

Hayes picked up his second goal of the day at 13:20, beating Gibbons with a shot from the top of the right circle on the power play and Cloutier added an empty net goal with 1:56 to go to seal the win.

Hayes finished the day with two goals and an assist for the Greyhounds.

In addition to the two-goal day for Cloutier, Beck, Jacob Frasca, and Kirill Kudryavtsev had two assists each for the Sault.

“Hayes is a hell of a player,” Cloutier said of playing on a line with Hayes and Jordan D’Intino. “He’s a skilled guy and has got a great IQ. (D’Intino) too. He’s got a great shot. If I give him the puck between the dots, he’s scoring it. He’s a horse too. He’s winning draws. He’s forechecking.”

Miller stopped 17 shots.

Gaudreau made 10 saves on 12 shots in the opening period while Gibbons stopped 17 of 20 shots the rest of the way.

Gaudreau left the game after one period due to a groin pull but stayed on the Erie bench.

With the win, the Greyhounds improve to 29-12-2-1 on the season and sit two points up on the Saginaw Spirit for top spot in the OHL’s West Division. The Spirit, who have two games in hand on the Greyhounds, also won on Sunday afternoon.

The Greyhounds sit two points behind the red-hot London Knights for top spot in the Western Conference. The Knights have move to the top of the conference thanks to a 14-game winning streak.

Erie falls to 20-18-4-0 on the season and sit seventh in the Western Conference, one point behind the Owen Sound Attack, who beat the Ottawa 67’s Sunday to move ahead of the Otters in the Conference standings.

For the Greyhounds, Travis Hayes missed the game due to a lower body injury. Dean said following the game that the rookie forward is day-to-day.

Greyhounds captain Bryce McConnell-Barker remains out of the lineup as well and continues to be out day-to-day.