Hounds go into Attack mode, beat Owen Sound

by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Brock Tanner (Owen Sound Attack)

The Soo Greyhounds and the Owen Sound Attack are in the same conference and the same league.

But for the majority of the time on Sunday, they weren’t in the same class.

Rebounding from a disappointing 7-2 loss in Oshawa on Friday, the Hounds controlled the first two periods and survived a late push to defeat the Attack 4-3 before 2,532 at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre.

“We controlled the game right from the start, for 40-50 minutes,” said Hounds winger Tyler Savard, whose club finished its most-recent road trip with a 2-1 record, improving to 10-11-4-4 on the season. “I think we outworked them. We were the better team and I thought we were dominant on the physical side of things.”

“I’m super proud. Today was a test. It looks as if we understand the formula that finds us success,” said Hounds head coach John Dean, whose team used two quick outbursts to beat the Attack for the second time in an eight-day period. “We talked to the guys about how this would be a game that defines your character.”

The Soo was a 5-3 winner the previous Sunday at GFL Memorial Gardens.

“I liked that we were relentless on the puck. I liked that we didn’t look nervous at all,” Dean said of the first 50 minutes on Sunday. “I thought we controlled the puck in the offensive zone very nicely. Our D made really-good reads on when to move and when to get involved in the offensive zone, without doing it in a risky way.”

Allowing the lead to shrink surely wasn’t part of the plan. Dean spoke of goalie Samuel Ivanov having trouble controlling the puck on one Attack goal and how failure to clear the zone resulted in another scoring play for the home side.

“They hemmed us in and pressed and we looked a little nervous and a little anxious,” noted the Sault coach, whose club was outshot 31-29, including 14-2 in the final period. “Owen Sound could sense that and pounced on it.”

The Greyhounds lacked urgency and appeared tired in Oshawa. The team was coming off of its first shootout win of the season, a 4-3 decision in North Bay on Thursday.

So, how determined were the Hounds to bounce back on Sunday?

“That was a tough 7-2 loss (in Oshawa) and we got back to the hotel really late,” said Greyhounds defenceman Andrew Gibson. “We all wanted it today (Sunday). We stuck to our game plan after getting away from it in Oshawa. We got our confidence under us quickly and stuck with it until the end.”

Having Saturday off before facing Owen Sound “was huge for us,” added Savard, who notched a goal and an assist on Sunday to continue his recent hot streak.

The Peterborough, Ont., native has five goals and 10 assists over his last 10 games and seven goals and 15 assists over his last 15.

“We got a chance to watch Owen Sound play Guelph at home on Saturday,” he continued. “We kind of got a feel for them because they play a completely different style of hockey in their own rink.”

Kirill Kudryavtsev, who was a standout, and Connor Toms scored 51-seconds apart midway through the opening period and Savard and Gibson notched goals 19-seconds apart early in the second frame for the winners, who built a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes.

That was enough to overcome a three-goal performance – all on the power play – by the Attack’s Servac Petrovsky.

“Those definitely knocked the life out of the Owen Sound bench both times,” Savard said of his team’s quick offensive outbursts. “And they got our guys more and more into the game.”

“We didn’t play well in the first and second,” said Petrovsky, after the RogersTV broadcast of the game. “And the third period wasn’t enough.”

Working on the power play, Kudryavtsev fired a wrist shot through traffic from the top of the left face-off circle, beating netminder Nick Chenard on the glove-hand side 8:41 into the opening frame.

Leading 1-0 less than a minute later, Toms notched his first goal of the season after skating in from the right point. The Sault native beat Chenard high to the blocker side.

But before the first period ended, Petrovsky converted on a power-play opportunity, taking a feed from Cedrick Guindon and, with a quick shot from the right face-off circle, the second-year man made it 2-1.

However, the second period belonged to the visitors.

After the Soo won a face-off, Savard wheeled into the slot and went up high, scoring on the glove-hand side to give the Hounds a 3-1 lead at the 3:07 mark.

Before the Attack could regroup, Gibson fired from the right point through traffic. The Hounds rookie scored through the five-hole at 3:26, the third goal by a Soo rearguard. That was good for a 4-1 lead and chased Chenard.

He was replaced in the Owen Sound goal by Corbin Votary.

Petrovsky added his second power-play marker on a pass from Guindon at 12:35 of the third. He completed his hat trick with Power Play Goal No. 3 at the 19:10 mark. With Votary on the bench for a sixth attacker, Petrovsky took a feed from Colby Barlow and was all alone in front. He beat Ivanov to the glove-hand side to make it 4-3.

But the Attack could get no closer, dropping its fourth in a row (0-3-1-0), while falling to 16-10-2-1 on the season.

Mark Duarte and rookie Matthew Virgilio notched assists each for the Hounds, who have two games remaining prior to the Christmas break.

The Hounds are slated to visit Kitchener (7:30 p.m.) on Friday and Guelph (2 p.m.) on Saturday.

They return to action on Dec. 28 (7 p.m.) in Flint.