Allard nets ‘biggest goal of my life’
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Gar FitzGerald @gar_pic
Four consecutive goals on Monday – including Owen Allard’s dramatic winner in overtime – completed the Soo Greyhounds transition from struggling prey into hungry predator.
The Hounds trailed 4-1 midway through the second period, but rallied to defeat the Guelph Storm 5-4 in front of 4,635 at the Sleeman Centre.
With the visitors on the power play at the :57 mark, Allard’s OT goal opened a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven, Western Conference quarter-final, and created the opportunity for a first-round sweep in Game 4 (6:30 p.m.) on Wednesday in Guelph.
“I would totally say it’s the biggest goal of my life, for sure,” said Allard, who fed Jacob Frasca in the right corner, watched Frasca slide the puck to Gavin Hayes in the left corner and then found an opening for himself in front.
Hayes fed Allard and the Ottawa native banged it through the five-hole on Guelph goalie Brayden Gillespie, making his first start of the series after being sidelined for two weeks with a lower-body injury.
“It took everybody a split second to realize it went in,” Allard added. “I kind of blacked out. There was so much excitement.”
The veteran centre credited Hayes for the pass he made and admitted he was “a bit surprised” he was so open in front.
Head coach John Dean lauded assistant coach Brendan Taylor for suggesting the team go to a “secondary” set play prior to the power-play winner.
The Soo had been using one set play in particular but Dean spoke of how Taylor’s thoughts were to “switch it up and maybe confuse them. Great call by Tayles.”
Allard described how Dean explained to him that “once I got it down to Frasca, I should go East-West and there would be a split second where I could get a shot off. I listened to the coach and it paid off.”
The penalty call leading to the Soo’s power play was certainly controversial. Guelph’s Charlie Paquette was whistled for a check to the head at 19:45 of the third period. Incensed over the call, Storm head coach Chad Wiseman was tossed from the contest, handed a game misconduct for abuse of an official.
Replays appeared to indicate Wiseman had a legitimate beef.
Dean, whose own team has been the victim of shaky officiating of late, refused comment when asked about the Paquette penalty.
“I don’t want to re-referee the game,” Dean added.
Down 4-3 late in regulation, Bryce McConnell-Barker won a prolonged puck battle and fed Arttu Karki at the point. Karki hit Kirill Kudryavtsev in the left circle and the veteran blueliner beat Gillespie through the five-hole to make it 4-4 at 14:55.
Netminder Landon Miller, who replaced starter Charlie Schenkel in the second period, made two critical saves in the final frame. He thwarted Gavin Grundner on a short-handed breakaway with 2:13 left in regulation. The Barrie native also turned aside Jett Luchanko on a partial break earlier in the period.
“If not for Landon Miller, we don’t have a chance,” said Dean, whose club held a 38-21 edge in shots. “Obviously, he was the star of the game.”
“We faced some adversity tonight. It wasn’t a work of art, but we won the game,” said McConnell-Barker. “We’re a team that’s never out of a game.”
Down 4-1, the Soo clicked for a pair of goals in a 23-second span late in the second period.
On the powerplay, Frasca won a face-off and McConnell-Barker did the rest. The Hounds captain skated into the slot and ripped a shot past Gillespie on the glove side to make it 4-2 at 17:40.
Moments later, Hayes beat his man to the front of the Guelph net and redirected home a feed from Kudryavtsev to draw the visitors to within 4-3.
“Those two goals were definitely huge,” said McConnell-Barker. “They created momentum for us going into the third period.”
After a scoreless opening frame, one in which the Hounds had numerous good chances, the Storm scored four of the five goals in the middle stanza.
Vilmer Alriksson had his initial shot blocked by Kudryavtsev, but banged home his own rebound to open the scoring at 1:20.
Before the period was four-minutes old, Schenkel made a sprawling save on Leo Serlin, but the rebound deflected off of Parker Snelgrove and into the goal to make it 2-0.
At 5:28, Jordan D’Intino’s shot trickled through the legs of Gillespie and Frasca tapped home the loose puck to cut the Hounds deficit in half.
But on the power play three minutes later, Paquette was all alone at the side of the Hounds goal prior to banging home the rebound of a Grundner shot.
At 10:52, the Hounds were slow getting back, allowing the Storm to open a 4-1 advantage. Hunter McKenzie found Brody Crane all alone in front of the Soo net and Crane gave his team a three-goal lead.
That ended Schenkel’s night and brought Miller on in relief.
“Our team was flat and Charlie, unfortunately, let in four,” Dean said of the decision to change goalies. “We hung him out to dry a little bit. We wanted to get a little more jump in our legs and wake our guys up.”
Overall, Dean wasn’t pleased with his team’s performance.
“We don’t like our game. That’s not a good 60 minutes for us,” the coach said. “I’m very disappointed in our blue-line play. We gave up more chances in the second period than we normally do in an entire game.”
However, despite their struggles the Hounds were proud of their comeback efforts.
“We have so much confidence in our group,” said McConnell Barker, who joined Frasca with a goal and two assists each. “We’ve done it all year. We’re a really resilient group.”
Hayes and Kudryavtsev finished with a goal and an assist each.
“You have to find a way to win games when you’re not at your best,” Dean added.
Meantime, should the series need a fifth game, it’s slated for Friday (7:07 p.m.) at GFL Memorial Gardens.
Notes:
The Hounds played without forwards Jack Beck and Travis Hayes, both listed as day-to-day with upper-body injuries.
Beck was on the receiving end of a check to the head, delivered by Max Namestnikov in the series opener. Due to that hit, the Guelph winger served Game 2 of a four-game, league-imposed suspension on Monday. The Storm was also minus forwards Braeden Bowman and Jake Karabella, due to lower-body injuries suffered in Game 2.
