Special teams come through for Greyhounds (video, 12 photos)

A strong third period and three goals on special teams helped the Soo Greyhounds to a key victory on Saturday night.

The Greyhounds scored five unanswered goals en route to a 5-1 Ontario Hockey League win over the Sudbury Wolves Saturday at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

The game wasn’t perfect for the Greyhounds, who struggled early on in the game before finding their legs in the final 20 minutes.

“It was a pretty sloppy game,” Dean said. “Five-on-five in the first 40 minutes, we were really trying to do too much and couldn’t really connect many passes together. We found a way to put a few in the net and put ourselves in a pretty good spot in the third period. Special teams came through huge with three goals.”

Wolves coach Craig Duncanson credited the Greyhounds for making life difficult for the Wolves in the game.

“There were details in the game that we didn’t take care of at opportune times, and they did,” Duncanson said. “Our power plays and penalty killing were not up to par. We missed a few details in front of our net on a draw. We had guys vacate and leave (Kalvyn) Watson all alone to do what he wanted.”

“Once they get ahead, they’re a hard team to come back on,” Duncanson added. “Anything you open up with and anything you give; they take advantage of it.”

Duncanson added that the Greyhounds also made life difficult for the Wolves trying to generate offence.

“In order to generate, you need to have the puck and in order to have the puck, you need to win puck battles,” Duncanson said. “The Greyhound won more puck battles than we did, so they got to determine the pace of the game and what end we played in.”

Picking up the win on the heels of an 8-4 win over the Wolves on Friday night in Sudbury, Dean also said the early parts of Saturday’s win were a struggle for the Greyhounds.

“We found a lot of success yesterday in out exits and our O zone (play) and when you find a ton of success, you think it’s going to be automatic the next night,” Dean said. “We came out very lackadaisical and forgot how hard we worked to make sure those things were successful last night.”

Calling the recent efforts of the team against the Wolves “hot and cold,” Greyhounds defenceman Jack Thompson said the team is looking to fine-tuning their game over final results.

“In the playoffs, you can’t give up that many opportunities and have that many turnovers,” Thompson said. “We’re worried about how we’re going to play going into the playoffs.”

“We’re building for playoffs,” Thompson added. “We’re building to have that identity for the playoffs and I think we’re on the right track.”

Dean was pleased with a number of aspects of the final 20 minutes for the Greyhounds in the win, including the discipline of the team.

“Discipline in not responding to any stuff after the whistle for the most part,” Dean said. “Also discipline in that our four-man rushes, we always had a guy overing the blue. Our D were mobile on the offensive blue, but not to a point where it was costing us going the wrong way. We really asked our guys to play a simple 20 without asking them to take their foot off the gas, and that’s not easy to do especially when you ask these guys to go.”

“We wanted to make sure we shut them down in the third,” Thompson added. “We were happy with our third period and not giving them many opportunities because that’s the way we have to play in the playoffs.”

Sudbury got on the board first as Kocha Delic batted in a rebound after Tucker Tynan stopped David Goyette initially on the play at 2:08 of the opening period.

Thompson tied the game for the Greyhounds at 17:14 when he beat Sudbury goaltender Mitchell Weeks on the power play with a shot from the right faceoff circle short side.

The Greyhounds took the lead 1:21 later when Justin Cloutier went to the net and redirected a pass from Bryce McConnell-Barker on the right wing high glove side on Weeks.

Watson made it 3-1 Greyhounds at 17:38 of the second period when he jumped on a loose puck after a faceoff deep in the Sudbury zone and beat Weeks stick side from in close.

Rory Kerins extended the lead to 4-1 at 12:34 of the third period when he redirected a pass in tight from Thompson in the right circle on the power play.

Thompson picked up his second goal of the night at 14:02 when he scored from the right circle after a shot by Kerins from the point deflected off a skate to the Greyhounds defenceman off to the right.

Thompson finished the night with three points on the strength of two goals and an assist.

Kerins added one of each while Ryan O'Rourke and Cole MacKay assisted on a pair of goals each

Tynan made 14 saves for the Greyhounds while Weeks stopped 36 shots at the other end.

The win improves the Greyhounds record to 37-21-6-1. The team remains two points behind the Flint Firebirds for third in the OHL’s Western Conference. The Firebirds also won on Saturday night, beating the Erie Otters 4-1.

The Firebirds have a game in hand on the Greyhounds and return to action on Sunday at home against the Sarnia Sting

With a record of 23-36-3-4, Saturday’s loss officially eliminated the Wolves from playoff contention in the Eastern Conference.

The two teams will meet for the third consecutive game on Wednesday night when they wrap up their season series with a game at the GFL Memorial Gardens. Puck drop is set for 7:07 p.m.