Miller holds mates in during miserable start
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo courtesy of Tony Saxon (Guelphtoday.com)
How important was Landon Miller on Saturday afternoon?
“If not for him in the first period, we aren’t in that game,” said Soo Greyhounds head coach John Dean, whose club rode Miller’s superb netminding performance and stout work by the penalty-killing units to a 2-0 victory over the Guelph Storm in front of 4,897 at the Sleeman Centre. “Unbelievable, considering the situation we’ve put him in.”
Saturday’s start was the 20-year-old’s (2006 birth year) first in nearly three weeks, Feb. 16 to be exact.
Since Carter George, acquired just before the trade deadline, made his Soo debut on Jan. 10, Miller has played in just four games.
“His opportunities have been limited and yet he gives us a shutout, playing in front of a team that’s been inconsistent lately,” added Dean, whose club improved to 37-19-1-5, while moving three points ahead of fifth-place London (36-21-4-1) in the Western Conference race.
The Knights Saturday game in Erie was just beginning shortly after the Hounds clash concluded.
The Greyhounds glacial-slow start – they were very sloppy with a number of turnovers – saw them outshot 14-1 by the 15:15 mark of the opening frame.
“We really had a lack of execution,” Dean said of the first period. “It looked as if we didn’t know what colour jersey we were wearing, because we kept passing to Guelph. A lot of their shots were off of turnovers.”
But Miller, en route to his third shutout of the season and the sixth of his OHL career, answered the challenge.
“It’s always nice to make a couple of big saves at the start of the game,” said the Barrie, Ont., native. “We bent but we didn’t break and we knew we were going to get through it.”
“He gave us an incredible first period,” said Dean, whose club returns home before visiting Windsor on Thursday (7:05 p.m.) and Flint on Friday (7 p.m.)
Over the four games he’s started since George’s arrival from Owen Sound, Miller has surrendered but eight goals. And he’s only been beaten nine times over his last five outings.
How has he managed to stay sharp?
“I look forward to practice and take everything day-by-day,” he answered. “Obviously, it’d be nice to play more. But that’s the reality of sports at this level. As long as I’m doing the right things in practice, the game should, hopefully, be the easy part.”
Miller, a Detroit Red Wings prospect, also credited goaltending coach Mark Visentin, who rejoined the club in mid-January.
“He’s super helpful,” the netminder said.
Despite running into serious penalty trouble in the middle frame, the Hounds, thanks to their PK, survived.
With the teams skating 4-on-4, Marco Mignosa was whistled for a five-minute match penalty for high-sticking at 11:11. After a whistle, Guelph’s Quinn Beauchesne pushed the Soo overage into an official.
There was no call on the play. Mignosa reacted by going after the Storm player.
And then, just 3:22 later, fellow overage Justin Cloutier was handed a double-minor for high-sticking.
The home side had a 5-on-3 for 1:39, but the best scoring chance belonged to Brady Martin, who was stopped on a breakaway by Storm goalie Zachary Jovanovski
‘’Incredible, incredible,” Dean said of his team’s penalty-killing, which was a perfect 4-for-4 on the day. “We got energized by the PK.”
When asked about Mignosa’s penalty, which carries with it a review by the OHL, Dean said he wasn’t on board with the call.
“We think it hits his (Beauchesne) shoulders first and wasn’t directly to the face.”
Did Mignosa display a lack of discipline?
“There was some frustration there,” said the coach. “We’ll call it ‘a moment of weakness.’”
“We all dug in and stuck with it,” defenceman Harris Pangretitsch said of the PK performance. “To kill off all of those penalties in the second period. . . once that happened, I knew we were going to win the game.”
On a day when the visitors were outshot 27-23, Pangretitsch got the Hounds on the board at 4:15 of the second period. The Toronto native took the rebound of a Brady Smith shot and, from the top of the right circle, rifled it high to Jovanovski’s glove side.
Early in the third, after Chris Brown won a face-off, rearguard Jakub Winkelhofer made it 2-0. From the blue-line, Winkelhofer’s one-timer beat the Guelph goalie on the blocker side.
Carson Andrew assisted on both goals.
Miller’s last big save came midway through the third when he thwarted Layne Gallacher, who was streaking down the right wing.
“Without a doubt, we have a lot of character,” Pangretitsch said. “Everyone wants to win so badly.”
Dean said he was especially proud of his club’s work “because the first period was so poor. But except for the first 20, we played a pretty good game. We’ve got to grab some positives.”
Notes:
The Hounds played minus winger Colin Fitzgerald (week-to-week, upper body) who was hurt blocking a shot in Friday’s 3-0 loss in Kitchener. Defenceman Brodie McConnell-Barker (illness) remains out. After his recall, rearguard Keegan Gillen was in the lineup for the second straight day.
Asked about blue-liner Chase Reid (upper body), Dean said there’s a chance he could play in either Windsor or Flint.
“But we will not play him until he’s 100-per-cent (healthy),” the coach again noted.
