VIDEO: Dominant start lifts Greyhounds (20 photos)

It almost looked easy at times.

The Soo Greyhounds will head to Saginaw up a pair of games thanks to an 8-0 Ontario Hockey League playoff victory over the Saginaw Spirit on Sunday afternoon at the Essar Centre.

The Greyhounds jumped out to a 4-0 lead through 20 minutes in an opening period that saw the home team flex its muscle, outshooting the Spirit 21-2 in the opening period.

“We had a great start and we talked after the first game about continuing where we finished off,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister. “We upped the pace too and continued to put a lot of pressure on their defencemen and forwards whether it was on the forecheck or in the offensive zone.”

Saginaw Coach Troy Smith called the Spirit start “reactionary” and said the tough start “took us right out of the game.”

“We didn’t give ourselves an opportunity to be in the game,” Smith said. “They came out really hot and came out hard on us. We were reactionary rather than playing on our toes.”

Bannister called the Greyhounds play in the opening period “pretty impressive hockey.”

Morgan Frost opened the scoring just under five minutes into the contest before he and Jack Kopacka scored on both ends of a lengthy 5-on-3 power play to increase the lead. Boris Katchouk also scored in the opening period.

“They went out and executed,” Smith said. “At the end of the day, that start meant it wasn’t even a game from then on.”

“That really opened the game up,” Bannister said. 

Kopacka added a goal midway through the second period while Conor Timmins had a power play goal 13 seconds into the third period.

The Greyhounds scored four times on seven power play opportunities in the game.

Keeghan Howdeshell and Barrett Hayton also scored in the final period with highlight-reel goals 54 seconds apart midway through the frame.

Frost finished the day with two goals and an assist while Mac Hollowell and Tim Gettinger set up a pair of goals each. Timmins, Hayton, and Katchouk also finished the day with two points each.

Greyhounds goaltender Matthew Villalta made 21 saves for the shutout.

Saginaw’s Evan Cormier made 36 saves.

For the Greyhounds, a good start will again be key on Monday night when the series shift to Saginaw for game three.

“The turnaround is good for us,” Bannister said. “We’re going to want to get down there and jump on them right away and have a good first period like we had today to set the tempo early on.”

Smith called a good start a key to Monday’s game for the Spirit.

“You turn the page on (game two),” Smith said. “You move on to tomorrow and get ready to go.”

In other action around the OHL on Sunday, in St. Catharines, Sam Miletic had two goals and an assist as the Niagara IceDogs beat the Oshawa Generals 6-1. Goaltender Stephen Dhillon made 34 saves. Niagara currently leads the series 2-0.

Sunday’s other games, which included Kingston hosting North Bay, Kitchener hosting Guelph, and Hamilton hosting Ottawa, were not complete at the time of writing.

On Saturday night, on home ice the Sarnia Sting evened its series with the Windsor Spitfires at one game apiece thanks to a 4-1 win. Hugo Leufvenius had two goals and an assist while Sean Josling added a goal and two helpers for the Sting in the win.

In Owen Sound, a goal in the final minute of regulation time by Alan Lyszczarczyk paved the way for Brett McKenzie to score the overtime winner as the Owen Sound Attack beat the London Knights 4-3. McKenzie had a pair of goals while Nick Suzuki assisted on three goals for Owen Sound, who will take a 2-0 lead to London for game three.