Spirit score late, beat Greyhounds in shootout

A three-goal third period wasn’t enough for the Soo Greyhounds on Wednesday night.

The Greyhounds dropped a 6-5 shootout decision to the Saginaw Spirit in Ontario Hockey League action at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw in a game that saw the team surrender a goal late to force overtime after battling back.

Trailing 4-2, the Greyhounds scored three times in just over four minutes to take a 5-4 lead before D.J. Busdeker scored with 3:48 to go in regulation time to tie the game. Cole Coskey and Blade Jenkins proceeded to score in the shootout to give the Spirit the win.

“We controlled the game, minus the eight minutes we spent in the penalty box in the second period,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister.

Boris Katchouk, Taylor Raddysh, amd Morgan Frost had a goal and an assist each for the Greyhounds. Rasmus Sandin and Hayden Verbeek also scored.

“The first two periods weren’t the greatest for us,” Katchouk said.

“I don’t think we got the bounces going our way (in the first two periods),” Katchouk also said. “In the third period, we responded well to it.”

Goaltender Tyler Johnson stopped 20 shots for the Greyhounds.

“He didn’t have a lot of work tonight,” Bannister said.

“(The goaltending) definitely cost us a chance to win the game tonight,” Bannister also said. “If you go on the road and score five goals and give up 25 shots, you should win.

Saginaw Coach Troy Smith credited his team for battling back after falling behind in the third period.

“It was pretty tight in the first two periods and I liked out game,” Smith said following the game on the Spirit television broadcast. “Then we got into some penalty trouble and it had us sweating a little bit. You have to give credit to our kids. They never quit when it would have been really easy to when they scored those goals and went up, but they don’t believe in that.”

Saginaw goaltender Evan Cormier made 37 saves and stopped both Greyhounds shooters in the shootout.

Jenkins, Kyle Bollers, D.J. Busdeker, Max Grondin, and Hayden Davis scored for the Spirit in regulation time. Ryan Stepien assisted on a pair of goals for Saginaw.

Conor Timmins remained out of the lineup for the Greyhounds, but Bannister would say that he continues to be closer to getting into a game. His status heading into the weekend is day-to-day.

Forward Keeghan Howdeshell missed the game after suffering an injury on Sunday afternoon in Hamilton. Bannister said Howdeshell’s status is week-to-week and he could potentially be out of the lineup until the playoffs.

The loss drops the Greyhounds record to 45-6-2-2 while the Spirit improve to 26-19-8-0.

The Greyhounds return home for a pair of games on the weekend, beginning on Friday night against the Hamilton Bulldogs. The team then hosts the Sarnia Sting on Saturday night. Puck drop for both games at the Essar Centre is 7:07 p.m.

In other games around the OHL on Wednesday, in Mississauga, Kole Sherwood’s goal at 17:24 of the opening period was the game-winner as the Kitchener Rangers beat the Mississauga Steelheads 3-2. Sherwood had a pair of goals in the game. Joseph Garreffa assisted on a pair of goals.

In Flint, Aaron Luchuk had a goal and two assists as the Barrie Colts beat the Flint Firebirds 8-5. Tyler Tucker added a pair of goals and T.J. Fergus set up three goals for the Colts.

In Ottawa, Tye Felhaber scored at 16:51 of the third period to lift the Ottawa 67’s beat the Kingston Frontenacs 4-3. Felhaber had a natural hat trick for the 67’s who scored four unanswered goals in the win.

In Owen Sound, Nick Suzuki had a pair of goals as the Owen Sound Attack beat the London Knights 4-2. Joseph Raaymakers made 37 saves for the Knights.