Hounds power play continues to struggle
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
An inability to convert scoring chances – most notably on the power play – cost the Soo Greyhounds dearly on Saturday.
Playing their third game in as many days, the Sudbury Wolves rode the netminding of Marcus Vandenberg to a 5-1 victory over the Hounds, who skated before a season-high crowd of 4,778 at GFL Memorial Gardens.
“Special teams, obviously, was the story of the game for us,” said Hounds head coach John Dean, whose club was a mere 1-for-7 on the power play, while falling to 23-9-2-1, heading into Sunday’s 2:07 p.m. home start against the Saginaw Spirit.
Saginaw (21-10-0-1) rallied to defeat Windsor 5-4 in overtime on Saturday, moving to within six points of the West Division-leading Greyhounds. The Spirit also has three games in hand.
“Obviously, finishing was a problem,” said Hounds overage winger Jack Beck, whose club is a mere 7-for-52 with the man advantage over its last 11 games. “Our power play wasn’t great tonight and, as a unit, we have to be better.”
A brief sequence in the third period typified the home team’s frustrations. Trailing 2-1, Hounds winger Justin Cloutier sped in a breakaway, only to be turned back by a Vandenberg pad save.
Just eight seconds later, the Wolves Kieron Walton skated down the right wing, made a move on Hounds centre Christopher Brown and beat netminder Landon Miller through the five-hole from the circle.
That made it 3-1 for the Wolves, who added a pair of goals in the final minute, including one into an empty net.
Both coaches thought the change in fortunes at that point was decisive.
“Sure it was a turning point,” said Dean, whose team finished the night with a 34-22 shots advantage. “That was a huge goal.”
“They could have tied it 2-2. If you’re looking for a turning point, that’s it,” said Wolves bench boss Ken MacKenzie, whose team finished 3-for-4 on the power play, while improving to 18-11-3-2.
Dean was certainly annoyed with the way in which his team performed on a four-minute power play late in the second period.
While leading 2-1, Sudbury’s David Goyette was whistled for a double-minor for high-sticking at 15:46.
But the Soo struggled over the entirety of the man-advantage situation, recording just a single shot on goal.
“Terrible,” was the word Dean used to describe the back-to-back power-play chances. “We looked nervous, completely off script. We were so disorganized.”
“We were overthinking on that four-minute power play,” added Beck, whose club lost in regulation for the first time since Dec. 1.
Prior to Saturday’s setback, the Soo was 7-0-0-1 over its previous eight starts.
Winger Marco Mignosa spoke of how he and his teammates “needed to bear down more” on that power play.
“The power play let us down. It cost us the game,” he added.
The Wolves opened the scoring just 5:30 in on the power play. Matt Mania’s shot from the right point was redirected in front by Nathan Villeneuve.
The visitors grabbed a 2-0 advantage just over nine minutes later. Kocha Delic made an inside-outside move on Brodie McConnell-Barker and sped in on the right wing.
Delic beat Miller high to the blocker side and the Wolves led 2-0.
The Soo answered with a power-play goal at 17:51 of the opening period. Brenden Sirizzotti made a slick feed to Mignosa in front and the veteran winger had a tap-in for his 15th goal of the season.
Quentin Musty, into an empty net on the power play, and Mania, at 19:58, added the late Sudbury goals.
As for Vandenberg, MacKenzie said his goalie was “everything we wanted him to be tonight. This was his third straight game and, no question, without him in net it could have been a different story.”
Asked about some of the areas in which his club fell short, Dean spoke of how the Soo wasn’t very good when it came to winning 50-50 battles over the first two periods.
“I liked our third,” the coach added. “But we didn’t make GFL a tough place to play over the first 40 minutes.”
Saturday’s game marked the return for Hounds winger Jordan D’Intino, sidelined since Nov. 29 with an upper-body injury.
“I thought he was awesome,” said Dean, who spoke of how the overage’s play convinced him to give D’Intino more ice time that originally planned. “He played a fantastic game.”
