Strong two periods help Greyhounds to home-ice win

The opening 10 seconds weren’t the way they drew it up, but the Soo Greyhounds have little to complain about when looking back on two periods of work on Saturday night.

Despite their opponent t opening the scoring, the Greyhounds used a strong effort through two periods to skate to a 5-2 Ontario Hockey League victory over the Windsor Spitfires Saturday at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

Aside from the Spitfires scoring off the opening faceoff, Greyhounds coach John Dean said he was impressed with the opening two periods from his team in addition to bouncing back in the third period, which included a lengthy delay between the second and third periods.

“I just loved our game,” Dean said. “I liked our compete. I liked the way we owned the puck in the O-zone. I liked the way we got above the puck when we didn’t have it. I liked how quickly our D moved the puck to our forwards. (There were) a whole bunch of things to like.”

Spitfires interim coach Casey Torres said he was proud of his team in the loss.

“To hang around and give yourself a chance in a one-goal game in the third period (I’m proud),” Torres said. “We played hard. They’re obviously a very strong team.”

“We knew the whole weekend was going to be tough,” Torres added.

Torres also spoke on what the young players in the Spitfires lineup learned in the game.

Windsor wasted little time opening the scoring as Ryan Abraham won a race to a loose puck in the Sault zone off the opening faceoff. He proceeded to hit Liam Greentree in the right faceoff circle with a pass and the latter beat Landon Miller stick side 10 seconds into the game.

The Greyhounds tied the game thanks to a goal by Brady Martin on the power play with just over five minutes to go in the opening period. Martin got the puck in the right faceoff circle, shifted to his left and beat Joey Costanzo glove side.

The Greyhounds took a 2-1 lead in the second period as Julian Fantino took a pass in the left circle from Jacob Frasca and beat Costanzo short side 56 seconds into the period.

Frasca made it a 3-1 game at 10:38 when he took a pass in tight from Jack Beck in the left circle and beat Costanzo from the edge of the crease on the power play.

Windsor pulled back to within one at 6:33 of the third when A.J. Spellacy scored into an open net shorthanded after a shorthanded turnover by Miller in the Greyhounds zone.

The Greyhounds retook the two-goal lead when Jack Beck took a short pass from Gavin Hayes as the two crossed paths through the slot. Beck then beat Costanzo stick side from the right circle at 11:49.

Just 1:05 later, Matthew Virgilio skated into the Windsor zone, took a drop pass from Justin Cloutier, and proceeded to beat Costanzo from the right circle stick side.

Beck and Frasca finished the night with a goal and an assist each. 

Jordan D’Intino assisted on a pair of goals.

Miller made 17 saves for the Greyhounds.

Costanzo made 42 saves and earned the praise of his coach.

“Joey was very good,” Torres said. “His two best performances of the season have been here in Sault Ste. Marie.”

Already shorthanded on the blueline with veteran defenceman Djibril Toure out due to injury while also serving a five-game suspension, the Spitfires played the third period minus defenceman Anthony Cristoforo, who left the game after the second period.

Cristoforo was checked out by paramedics in the building following the second period. Torres said the blueliner was “very white, very pale” during the intermission.

Torres confirmed that the defenceman wasn’t taken to hospital and looked better as the lengthy intermission ended. While the exact diagnosis wasn’t known, Torres said it appeared to potentially be dehydration.

With the win, the Greyhounds improve to 42-16-3-1 and remain six points behind the Saginaw Spirit for top spot in the OHL’s West Division after the Spirit also won on Saturday night.

Windsor falls to 18-36-5-3 with the loss.

For the Greyhounds, the injury situation remains status quo with rookie forward Travis Hayes out week-to-week while Owen Allard and Marco Mignosa are day-to-day as the team prepares for the final road trip of the regular season.

The team will depart on Tuesday for the trip, which takes the Greyhounds to Flint on Wednesday night to face the Firebirds before traveling to London to take on the Knights on Friday and wrapping up the trip Saturday night in Owen Sound against the Attack.