VIDEO: Greyhounds struggle, Sting capitalize

On a night when they outshot their opponent by a 45-27 margin, the Soo Greyhounds didn’t do their goaltender many favours on Saturday night against the Sarnia Sting.

Powered by a three-goal outburst midway through the second period, the Sting picked up an 8-3 Ontario Hockey League victory over the Greyhounds at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

Leading 2-1 through 20 minutes, Sarnia scored three times in a span of 5:02 in the second period to pull ahead.

For the Greyhounds it was a night where managing the puck was a struggle.

“We just had 45 shots on net, but we made some really poor decisions (with the puck),” said Greyhounds coach John Dean. “Our D had a really tough night. We gave up really high-quality chances that ended up in the back of our net.”

Overage goaltender Bailey Brkin made 19 saves for the Greyhounds.

“We left Bailey right out to dry,” Dean said. “I feel bad for Bailey but he’s a guy that wanted to battle, so we left him in there.”

Dean said he asked Brkin about coming out of the game during the third period but the overage netminder wanted to stay in the game.

In addition to the three goals in the middle period, the Sting tacked on three more in the third, including two in the final five minutes to put the game out of reach.

“We scored on our chances,” said Sarnia coach Derian Hatcher. “When we had our chances, we made good plays.”

“In the first period, we played well,” Hatcher also said. “We were moving our feet. That’s a big thing for us. It’s no secret we wanted to be really aggressive on their defencemen. They’re trying to make little plays and we tried to re-attack their D and that caused a few of those goals (in the second period).”

With a short turnaround heading into a game against the London Knights on Sunday afternoon, the team has a decision to make.

“We have to mature really fast here and decide what kind of team we want to be,” Dean said. “Guys made a choice to play sloppy tonight. They thought that it was going to be a fun night where we could take some chances and those chances backfired.”

“We have a team coming in here (Sunday) that’s playing their third game in less than 48 hours and we have to jump on them quick,” Dean also said.

Jaden Peca assisted on three goals for the Greyhounds while rookie defenceman Jacob Holmes had a goal and an assist.

Alex Johnston and Rory Kerins also scored.

Jacob Perreault paced the Sting with two goals and two assists. Jamieson Rees had a goal and two assists.

Brayden Guy and former Greyhound Ryan Roth added a goal and an assist each for Sarnia while Nolan Dillingham, Ryan McGregor and Joseph Mack also scored.

The Sting got goals from all four lines in the win, which is something Hatcher was pleased with as well.

“Anytime you can get a goal from every line, your odds of winning the hockey game go up,” Hatcher said.

Sting goaltender Ethan Langevin stopped 42 shots for Sarnia, who improve to 12-13-0-0.

The loss drops the Greyhounds record to 10-15-1-0 heading into action Sunday against London. Puck drop at the GFL Memorial Gardens is set for 2:07 p.m.

In other action around the OHL on Saturday night, in Ottawa, Jack Quinn’s goal with six seconds to go in regulation time lifted the Ottawa 67’s to a 4-3 win over the Oshawa Generals. Noel Hoefenmayer had a pair of goals for Ottawa.

In Erie, Hunter Jones made 38 saves as the Peterborough Petes beat the Erie Otters 3-1. Tucker Robertson had a pair of assists for the Petes.

In Flint, Antonio Stranges had a pair of goals as the London Knights beat the Flint Firebirds 4-1. Brett Brochu made 29 saves for the Knights.

In Windsor, Adrien Beraldo’s goal 1:23 into the third period was the game-winner as the Niagara IceDogs scored three unanswered goals to beat the Windsor Spitfires 3-2. Tucker Tynan made 32 saves for Niagara.

In Barrie, Jason Willms scored at 3:34 of overtime to give the Barrie Colts a 4-3 win over the Hamilton Bulldogs. Willms had a pair of goals for the Colts. Nathan Allensen assisted on three goals for Barrie.

In Owen Sound, Barret Kirwin scored 58 seconds into overtime as the Owen Sound Attack beat the Saginaw Spirit 5-4. Kirwin had two goals and an assist for the Attack. Blade Jenkins had a goal and two assists for Saginaw.