Hounds struggle, Spirit grab series lead
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
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A perfect storm can sink a boat.
On Monday, it sunk the Soo Greyhounds.
On a night when the Hounds held their fans emotions in a vice-grip, the home team failed to finish scoring chances, recorded just two shots in the final period, missed a golden opportunity on a penalty shot, surrendered goals at inopportune times and watched Saginaw backup netminder Nolan Lalonde outduel Charlie Schenkel by a significant margin.
“We didn’t have the same pop or energy we normally do,” said head coach John Dean, minutes after the Hounds dropped a 7-2 decision to the Spirit in front of 4,668 at GFL Memorial Gardens.
That puts the Soo in a 2-1 hole in the best-of-seven, Western Conference semifinal, heading into Game 4 on Wednesday (7:07 p.m. at the Gardens).
“Our guys really wanted to perform for the fans,” Dean added, “but we have to capitalize on our opportunities.”
In part, that’s where Lalonde came in.
Starting in place of Andrew Oke, who suffered an upper-body injury in Game 2 following a collision with the Soo’s Bryce McConnell-Barker, Lalonde made a number of huge saves.
His most impressive was an enormous glove save, robbing the Hounds Justin Cloutier on a penalty shot with the Spirit protecting a 3-2 lead midway through the second period.
With three minutes to go in the frame, following a feed from Travis Hayes, Lalonde made a huge stop on Owen Allard, who was attempting to finish off a 3-on-1.
He also made a stick save on Allard, who skated in on a breakaway with 7:05 to go in regulation and the Soo trailing 4-2.
That was the Soo’s first shot-on-goal of the final frame.
“That wasn’t our best game. We had a couple of breakdowns,” said McConnell-Barker. “We had lots of chances, especially in the first period, that could have changed the outcome.”
Schenkel, who won 28 games in the regular season and four to date in the playoffs, simply wasn’t sharp on this night.
He was the victim of three goals he’d likely hope to have back.
With the game tied 2-2 in the second period, Zayne Parekh found Sault native Calem Mangone in the right circle. Mangone’s shot hit Schenkel in the shoulder, before deflecting up high and trickling behind the Hounds netminder.
That made it 3-2 at 9:49.
Early in the third period, Saginaw won an offensive zone face-off before Rodwin Dionicio fired from the left circle. The shot appeared to hit Schenkel’s stick and deflected past him on the blocker side. That made it 4-2.
Ten minutes later, Mangone raced to the puck at the goal-line on the right-wing boards. He fired on goal and the shot seemed to surprise Schenkel. From a bad angle, it beat him high to the glove side to make it 5-2.
Asked about the goaltenders, Dean spoke of how “Lalonde played well, he was fine. But I thought we gave up way too much. The pucks Charlie did have to save were off of turnovers and missed assignments. I’m pretty happy with his compete level over the course of the night.”
Asked if he wanted to do an interview following the game, Schenkel politely refused.
But his teammates were quick to offer their support.
“Everyone has an off night,” said Allard. “But he’s been bailing us out all year. Obviously, he’d like a couple back, but we totally believe in him.”
“We have confidence in him, 100 per cent,” added McConnell-Barker. “He’s been great for us all year and we have to be better in front of him.”
Down 2-0 in the second period, the Hounds rallied to tie the contest by scoring twice in a span of 1:50.
Arttu Karki made a couple of slick moves to elude a defender in the right corner, skated behind the Spirit goal and found Gavin Hayes in front. He made it 2-1 at 7:34.
Jacob Frasca shook the puck loose from a Spirit player at the Saginaw blue-line and fed it ahead to Jordan D’Intino. The London native beat Lalonde high to the blocker side from the right dot to make it 2-2 at 9:24.
Mangone’s goal 25 seconds later “was the big back-breaker for me,” said Dean, whose club was outshot 25-23. “We make it 2-2, the place was absolutely electric, we turn over a couple of pucks, miss an assignment and it ends up in the back of our net.”
Jorian Donovan and Alex Christopoulos notched the first two goals for the winners.
Braden Hache made it 6-2 with an empty-netter before Sebastien Gervais added a power-play marker to close the scoring with 1:14 to go in regulation.
Following the game, the Spirit blocked the area around its dressing room and refused to make anyone available for comment.
As for Game 4, Allard said “everything is a must-win at this point. Every game is Game 7 at this point.”
Notes:
Game 5 in the series is set for Friday (7:05 p.m.) in Saginaw.
Overage Jack Beck missed his sixth straight contest with an upper-body injury.
On Monday afternoon, general manager Kyle Raftis spoke of how Beck “is skating and is feeling better. We’re hopeful he’s turned the corner.”
Dean said the club’s leading scorer “has a chance to play in Game 4.”
