VIDEO: Sandin scores two, pacing Greyhounds to win

For the Soo Greyhounds, puck possession has always been a key element to success and it was on display on Sunday afternoon. 

The Greyhounds surrendered just five shots over the final 40 minutes of a 5-2 Ontario Hockey League win over the Windsor Spitfires at the Essar Centre in a game that saw the team make life difficult for the Spitfires over the final two periods of the contest.

“We were pretty impressive in that part (of the game),” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister. “Our kids played well defensively too. We didn’t give them a lot of time and space. When they did have any possession in our zone, we had good puck pressure. We did a good job managing the puck.”

For the Spitfires, the game marked a disappointing effort following a key win Saturday night.

“We were a little bit off today and you can’t be against this team,” said Windsor Coach Trevor Letowski. “We played probably our best game of the season yesterday (in a win over Saginaw). With a young group, you have to be careful. Sometimes it’s harder to respond to success than it is to failure. That’s what happened today.”

Swedish blueliner Rasmus Sandin had a pair of goals and assisted on another to pace the Greyhounds offensively.

“He was really good,” Bannister said. “The puck seemed to follow him today. It seemed to be on his stick everywhere, regardless of whether it was bouncing or not.”

Boris Katchouk and Morgan Frost set up a pair of goals while Keeghan Howdeshell, Ryan Roth and Jack Kopacka also scored for the Greyhounds.

Howdeshell returned to the Greyhounds lineup Sunday after missing nearly a month due to injury. He was hurt on the road in Hamilton against the Bulldogs on Feb. 11.

“In the first period, you could tell he was trying to get up to speed,” Bannister said. “He got better in the second period. He was feeling more comfortable. He won some wall battles that we’re used to seeing. He was really effective along the walls.”

Greyhounds goaltender Matthew Villalta made 12 saves. 

Overage forward Hayden Verbeek missed the game due to illness. The veteran forward was a late scratch for the game.

Jacob LeGuerrier also returned to the Greyhounds lineup Sunday while Conor Timmins could be in the lineup next weekend on the road. Barrett Hayton also remained out Sunday but could practice Tuesday.

Luke Boka and Lev Starikov scored for Windsor. Goaltender Brock Baier made 39 saves. 

“If we don’t have a majority of our players playing above average, you just don’t win and that was the case,” Letowski said. 

“We looked tired and we just didn’t have a lot of push-back,” Letowski said.

Having already clinched top spot in the OHL standings, the Greyhounds improve to 52-6-2-2.

Windsor, battling for playoff positioning in the OHL’s Western Conference, falls to 29-28-3-2 with the loss. Windsor sits two points behind the Guelph Storm for sixth in the West while also holding a two-point edge on the Saginaw Spirit, who were set to face the Sudbury Wolves on Sunday evening.

In other games around the OHL on Sunday, in Guelph, Adam Mascherin had two goals and two assists as the Kitchener Rangers beat the Guelph Storm 5-4. Joseph Garreffa and Logan Stanley added a goal and two assists each for Kitchener. 

In Mississauga, Owen Tippett had three goals and an assist as the Mississauga Steelheads beat the Erie Otters 7-2. Michael Little chipped in with a goal and two assists for the Steelheads. 

In St. Catharines, Sam Miletic had a goal and an assist as the Niagara IceDogs beat the Peterborough Petes 4-2. Danial Singer assisted on a pair of goals for Niagara. 

In North Bay, shootout goals by Cliff Pu and Jason Robertson lifted the Kingston Frontenacs to a 4-3 win over the North Bay Battalion. Jeremy Helvig made 33 saves for Kingston and stopped two of the three shooters he faced in the shootout. Gabriel Vilardi had two goals and an assist for Kingston. 

In Ottawa, Jordan Kooy made 40 saves and seven different players had goals as the London Knights beat the Ottawa 67’s 7-5. Sasha Chmelevski assisted on three goals for Ottawa. 

In Sarnia, Jordan Kyrou scored 17 seconds into overtime to lift the Sarnia Sting to a 5-4 win over the Owen Sound Attack. Kyrou and Jonathan Ang had a goal and two assists each for the Sting. 

Sunday’s other game, a matchup between the Sudbury Wolves and Saginaw Spirit in Saginaw, was not complete at the time of writing.