Senyshyn paces Greyhounds

On an afternoon when the team its battling with picked up a victory, the Soo Greyhounds got involved in a low-scoring game and came through in the clutch.

A late-goal lifted the Greyhounds to a 2-1 road victory over the Kitchener Rangers on Sunday afternoon.

It was a game that took on added importance as the Windsor Spitfires, the team that the Greyhounds remain in a battle with for top spot in the Ontario Hockey League’s West Division, also won on Sunday afternoon.

“It’s as big (a win) as any of them are moving forward,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister. “We played excellent for the whole game. We always felt that we were in control of the game. At no point in the game did it ever feel like we were out of control.”

Veteran forward Zach Senyshyn scored both goals for the Greyhounds, including the game-winner with 2:09 remaining in the third period.

“Every game is important here on in and the points are crucial and I was happy to help out,” Senyshyn said.

Senyshyn credited a pass from sophomore forward Morgan Frost on the winning goal.

“Frost made a great play to throw it out to me in the slot,” Senyshyn said.

For Senyshyn, the goals give him 41 on the season as he becomes the first Greyhound since Richard Uniacke to score 40 in back-to-back seasons. Uniacke did so in 1995-96 and 1996-97.

“The goal he scored in the first period was a really good goal, he was really patient and Morgan Frost did a really good job getting to the net and getting a little bit of traffic there,” Bannister said. “The second one, he was able to jump on a turnover. Seny did a lot of good things.”

Greyhounds rookie goaltender Matthew Villalta made 27 saves to pick up his 22nd win of the season.

“Matthew was excellent tonight,” Bannister said. “He got challenged more tonight than the game in Guelph (on Friday).”

Villalta spoke of having some nerves prior to the start of the game before settling in once the game began, adding that his confidence level continues to remain high.

“All season I’ve been pretty confident but I’m starting to feel it a lot more,” Villalta said. “I’m feeling really good about my game.”

Joseph Garreffa had the lone goal for the Rangers, beating Villalta with six seconds remaining in the opening period. Goaltender Luke Richardson made 27 saves.

“We have to learn from our mistakes,” Kitchener Coach Jay McKee told RogersTV. “The last couple of games, we’ve had the opposition defence jumping past our wingers in the defensive zone and that’s something that we have to clean up. We can’t give them those opportunities. There’s a really fine line between winning and losing and sometimes it comes down to not puck watching and taking that second look over your shoulder.”

The Greyhounds improve to 43-15-3-1 and remain four points ahead of the Spitfires in the West Division. Sitting in second in the Western Conference, the win pulls the Greyhounds to within three points of the Erie Otters, who lost on Sunday, for the overall conference lead.

As the Rangers continue to battle with the Flint Firebirds for playoff positioning, the team falls to 34-25-2-2 and sits three points ahead of the Firebirds for sixth in the Western Conference through Flint now has a game in hand.

The Greyhounds return to action with a pair of home games beginning on Wednesday night against the Sarnia.

Notes: Sunday’s game was the 300th career game for overage forward Bobby MacIntyre. Ironically enough, MacIntyre’s first OHL game was on Sept. 21, 2012 with the Mississauga Steelheads against the Rangers and he also scored his first OHL goal against Kitchener on Nov. 11, 2012.

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OTHER SCORES

In Mississauga, Nicolas Hague scored at 4:59 of overtime to give the Mississauga Steelheads a 3-2 win over the Sarnia Sting. Hague finished the day with a goal and an assist. Jacob Cascagnette and Owen Tippett also scored for the Steelheads. Drake Rymsha and Jaden Lindo scored for the Sting.

In St. Catharines, Kirill Maksimov had three goals and an assist as the Niagara IceDogs beat the Erie Otters 9-7. Johnny Corneil added a goal and three assists while Ryan Mantha chipped in with two goals and an assist for the IceDogs. Kyle Langdon also scored twice for Niagara. Oliver Castleman had a goal and two assists for the IceDogs, who got outshot 60-37 in the contest. Ben Jones, Jonathon Schaefer, Akil Thomas and Justin Brack also had two assists each for Niagara. Alex DeBrincat scored twice for Erie. Taylor Raddysh and Dylan Strome had a goal and two assists each for Erie. T.J. Fergus chipped in with a goal and an assist while Warren Foegele and Gera Poddubnyi also scored. Darren Raddysh assisted on three Erie goals.

In North Bay, Michael Cramarossa had the shootout winner as the Hamilton Bulldogs beat the North Bay Battalion 5-4. Benjamin Gleason scored a pair of goals in regulation time for the Bulldogs. Will Bitten and Zachary Jackson also scored for Hamilton. Steve Harland had a goal and two assists for North Bay. Brady Lyle also had a pair of assists. Brad Chenier and Brett Hahkala had the other North Bay goals.

In Ottawa, Leo Lazarev made 31 saves as the Ottawa 67’s beat the Barrie Colts 3-1. Mathieu Foget, Austen Keating and Sasha Chmelevski scored for Ottawa while Artur Tyanulin and Peter Stratis picked up two assists each. Roy Radke had the lone goal for Barrie.

In Windsor, Gabriel Vilardi had three goals and two assists as the Windsor Spitfires beat the Sudbury Wolves 7-1. Jeremy Bracco had a goal and three assists for the Spitfires. Logan Brown chipped in with a goal and two assists while Julius Nattinen had a goal and an assist. Mikhail Sergachev also scored for Windsor. Aaron Luchuk assisted on two Windsor goals. Ryan Valentini had the lone goal for Sudbury.