Dean: ‘It wasn’t our night to come back.’
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo courtesy of Hailey Tripodi
GAME HIGHLIGHTS | GAME CENTRE
There would be no third period comeback on this night.
And no Game 6.
Trailing by two goals entering the final frame for the second straight night, the Soo Greyhounds were unable to rally on Friday. They wound up dropping a 5-1 decision to the Kitchener Rangers in front of 6,927 at the Aud.
Despite the outstanding goaltending of Carter George, a sub-par performance overall brought an end to the Soo’s season. They dropped the best-of-seven, Western Conference semifinal to the Rangers, four games to one. Kitchener advances to face the Windsor Spitfires, who swept Flint 4-0 in the other semifinal, in the conference final.
On Thursday, the Hounds battled back from a 2-0 deficit after 40 minutes, putting together an impressive rally for a 4-2 victory at GFL Memorial Gardens. That denied the Rangers a sweep and forced Friday’s fifth contest.
“But you can’t keep putting yourself in those spots. Tonight, unfortunately, it wasn’t our night to come back,” said head coach John Dean.
“Tough to come back all the time, obviously,” added Hounds overage Marco Mignosa, who led his club in both regular season (35-54-89) and playoff (7-10-17) scoring. “They managed the game well. They were tight in the D zone, blocking shots and getting pucks out. It was tough to generate chances.”
“We lost to a better team,” added Hounds captain Brady Martin, whose club was outshot 34-16. “They came in with a mindset that they wanted to beat us and not come back to the Sault. We got outplayed and we just couldn’t find our game.”
Dean touched on the fact it simply wasn’t the Greyhounds night.
“It definitely wasn’t our best game here in Game 5,” the coach added. “But I’m so proud of how hard our guys work and compete. Kitchener played a very good game, credit to them.”
The second period was particularly disappointing. The visitors were outshot 17-3, while surrendering the only two goals. That put the Soo in a 3-1 hole entering the final 20 minutes.
“Probably our worst period of the series,” Dean said. “Kitchener did a great job of forcing us into turnovers through neutral ice. And they had a heck of a second period.”
Tied 1-1 after 20 minutes, the Rangers scored twice in the middle frame, while controlling play.
With the Hounds caught up ice, the Kitchener clicked on a 2-on-1 at the 7:41 mark. Jared Woolley fired stick side and though he got a piece of it, George was unable to keep it out of the net.
Six minutes later, the home team used a 3-on-2 to notch a power-play tally. Alexander Bilecki made a slick feed to Dylan Edwards on the right wing. The overage notched his eighth goal of the playoffs, beating George high to the glove side. That made it 3-1.
Ten seconds later, Justin Cloutier was whistled for roughing, while both Travis Hayes and Callum Croskery were handed 10-minute misconducts for unsportsmanlike conduct.
“Obviously, I didn’t like the penalties,” Dean said when asked. “We have to keep our emotions under control.”
Meantime, the Rangers added two late, empty-net goals by Sam O’Reilly to cap the scoring. O’Reilly also had a pair of assists, while Edwards contributed a goal and two assists.
Scoring his fifth goal of the playoffs and fourth in the last five games, Quinn McKenzie got the Hounds going just 54-seconds into the first period. After a Rangers turnover, a deflection in front of the goal wound up on the stick of Noah Laus.
He fed McKenzie alone in front and the Soo had a 1-0 lead.
George made numerous big saves throughout to keep his team close.
Dean used the word “fantastic” to describe the play of the Thunder Bay native.
“Carter George is Carter George,” the coach added. “He gave us an opportunity to potentially have a comeback in the third.”
While appearing on the Rogers television broadcast, Kitchener bench boss Jussi Ahokas said the Rangers weren’t about to blow a lead for the second straight night.
“We played (tonight),” he said, when asked about the difference in third periods. “We did a solid, great job.”
Ahokas also spoke of how he has no doubt the Rangers were the better team in this series.
“We played badly 10 minutes, I would say, in the whole series. They had great goaltending, but we still managed to score.”
“This obviously sucks,” Mignosa said of going out in Round 2. “The whole team wanted to go a little farther than we did.”
With injured centre Chris Brown (upper body) playing for the first time in the series on Friday, the Hounds were able to dress three 2006-born skaters, along with George in goal. On the flip side, the Rangers dressed eight players in their age-19 season, plus netminder Christian Kirsch.
Asked about the difference in OHL experience and what role it plays in the playoffs, Dean spoke of how “there are always youthful mistakes and so experience can be an advantage at times.”
However, the coach refused the suggestion it was a factor in this series.
“We had a good enough team to win, no matter what our average age is,” he said.
Dean was also asked about Cloutier, the overage winger, who was obviously playing at less than 100 per cent.
The veteran Hound lacked his usual feisty approach and had just one assist in nine playoff tilts.
“No, no, he wasn’t 100 per cent. But he went out of his way to battle for his team,” said Dean, who talked of how Cloutier’s problem was “illness related.”
The Ottawa native was seriously ill as he battled an E. coli infection through the first half of the season.
“I’m beyond impressed by him,” the coach continued.
Martin, who began the season with the NHL’s Nashville Predators, said he was so proud of the players he competed alongside.
“We had a great group on this team,” he said. “We had a blast.”
Notes:
While Brown was able to play on Friday, veteran winger Jeremy Martin (upper body) missed his second straight game.
