RECAP; Soo’s swift start too much for Sudbury
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
With switch-blade quick hands, they moved the puck crisply and smartly on Wednesday.
Except for some late-game glitches, Game 1 of this week’s three-game, playoff tune-up tour proved successful for the Soo Greyhounds.
Sparked by their dynamic offence – they recorded 29 shots in the opening period – the Hounds stopped the Sudbury Wolves 6-4 before 3,295 at GFL Memorial Gardens.
“We definitely take pride in the way we move the puck to each other,” said winger Kalvyn Watson.
“Our first 30 minutes were fantastic. We were moving the puck around well,” said head coach John Dean, whose club could have blown the game open were it not for the brilliant play of Wolves netminder Mitchell Weeks. “That’s something we would like to use as an example of how we want to play the game.”
The Soo skated off with a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes and carried a 5-1 advantage into the final frame.
“We were keeping it simple,” said centre Rory Kerins, whose team takes a five-game winning streak into the final two games of the regular season, Friday and Saturday (both at 7 p.m.) at Dort Financial Center in Flint. “We take what’s given. If there’s a pass to make, we’re going to make it. If there’s a shot to take, we’re going to take it.”
As was the case on Wednesday, both games in Flint are meaningless as far as playoff seeding goes. The Greyhounds (38-21-6-1) are locked into fourth place in the OHL’s Western Conference while the Firebirds (41-20-1-4) have clinched third place.
With back-to-back wins in regulation this weekend, the Soo could tie Flint with 87 points each. But the Firebirds own the first tie-breaker, which is the combined total of wins secured in regulation and overtime.
No matter what happens in Flint, the Soo will play the fifth seed in the conference in a best-of-seven, quarter-final playoff series beginning with Games 1-2 next Thursday and Saturday here. The full series schedule will not be approved by the OHL until the Hounds opponent, either Guelph or Owen Sound, is determined.
The Storm (34-24-5-3) is presently fifth, two points ahead of the Attack (33-26-5-3), a 4-1 winner over Barrie on Wednesday. For Owen Sound to finish fifth, it must defeat Kitchener on Saturday while the Storm would have to lose to Kitchener, on Friday, and Windsor, on Saturday – both in regulation.
Such a scenario would see the teams finish tied for fifth with 76 points each. They would also be tied in regulation/overtime victories. The next tie-breaker is head-to-head play and Owen Sound holds the advantage.
The Greyhounds main goal in Flint will be to play consistently, with an emphasis on keeping pucks out of their net.
“We want to end on a high note,” Dean said of the final two regular season contests.
When asked, the coach also said he’s considering resting some of his heavy-minutes players on the weekend.
“Over the last five games we’ve been preparing for playoffs,” Kerins added. “We’re trying to make sure our habits are good and we’re feeling good about our game.”
That was certainly the case over the first half of Wednesday’s contest.
Sudbury paid for an early penalty when Kerins fed Cole MacKay for a power-play goal just 1:48 in. The goal for MacKay was his 27th. He also added an assist and has five goals and seven assists over his last five games.
Just 21 seconds later, Kirill Kudryavtsev snapped a shot through traffic and past Weeks for as 2-0 lead.
After Dominik Jendek trimmed Sudbury’s deficit to 2-1, taking advantage of two Soo turnovers, Owen Allard’s redirection of a Caeden Carlisle shot in front of the Wolves goal restored the home side’s two-goal margin.
“We had a handful of guys who didn’t get off the bus” in the opening period, said Wolves head coach Craig Duncanson, whose team fell to 23-37-3-4. “You want to be professionals, you have to take a professional approach.”
Kerins, with a wicked shot, beat Weeks high to the blocker side just 1:01 into the middle frame to make it 4-1. That was the Caledon, Ont., native’s 42nd goal.
Just less than 12 minutes later, Keegan McMullen redirected a Rob Calisti feed for a power-play marker and a 5-1 lead.
However, the final frame was not what the Hounds wanted as the Wolves connected twice on the power play.
Dean blamed undisciplined hockey and turnovers, before noting how “games like this are mentally difficult to play in.”
“We’re happy we got two points, but we obviously let that game slip out of our hands a little bit,” said Watson.
A David Goyette goal, with Sudbury skating 5-on-3, made it 6-4 with 1:29 left in regulation.
Tye Kartye, with his team-leading 43rd goal, completed the Hounds scoring on a night when the final shots were 49-30.
Kerins, Allard, McMullen and Kudryavtsev joined MacKay in contributing a goal and an assist each.
Kerins, the OHL’s second-leading scorer (42-73-115), has four goals and 10 assists in his last six games.
Connecting twice in three chances on Wednesday, the Soo’s power play is a lofty 12-for-18 over the last five games.
Evan Konyen, on the power play, and Ethan Larmand were the other Sudbury shooters to beat Hounds netminder Samuel Ivanov.
Asked about Weeks, Duncanson said he’s “obviously our MVP.”
Notes:
The Greyhounds played minus wingers Marco Mignosa (upper-body injury), Tyler Savard (upper body) Jordan D’Intino (illness) and Ethan Montroy (lower body).
Dean said all but Montroy are either probable or possible for the games in Flint.
