Otters score five straight, beat Soo in OT
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
Like a Bon Soo ice sculpture, the Greyhounds 4-0 lead eventually melted away on Saturday.
The Erie Otters scored five straight goals and rallied for a 6-5 overtime win in front of 3,588 at GFL Memorial Gardens.
At 1:54 of OT, Colby Saganiuk fed a wide open Spencer Sova at the right side of the Hounds goal. The veteran defenceman beat Charlie Schenkel, who, in disgust, proceeded to break his stick off of the iron behind him.
But that was merely an indication of the Greyhounds frustration after missing a golden opportunity to gain two points on the Kitchener Rangers, owners of the eighth-and-final Western Conference playoff spot.
“We lost a battle, guys were on the wrong side of the puck twice. It’s unacceptable,” head coach John Dean said of the moments leading up to Sova’s winner. “It’s frustrating. I’m frustrated for the players. All they had to do was make a decision to win a hockey game.”
Dean paused before adding: “And they made a decision to go the other way. There’s just no excuse for it.”
“Guys are fed up with losing,” added defenceman Caeden Carlisle, whose team dropped its third straight, falling to 16-24-9-5 with 14 regular season games remaining.
That’s five points back of Kitchener (24-25-3-0), a 6-1 loser in Flint on Saturday. The Rangers, who ripped the Soo 10-2 on Friday night, also have two games in hand.
“I’m disappointed, frustrated, all of those emotions. It’s becoming a habit now, how we fall apart,” added Carlisle, whose club enjoyed a rocket start in the opening period, before the train left the tracks.
The sting of a blown opportunity was palpable in a quiet Hounds dressing room.
“I’m very angry,” added overage Mark Duarte, who scored a clutch goal at 17:00 of the third to tie the game 5-5 and force OT. “We have to look at ourselves in the mirror and ask, ‘What are we doing wrong and what do we have to do to fix it.’”
Apparently, Dean has little doubt.
The coach was highly-critical when asked what led to his club’s collapse.
“We don’t want to play 60 minutes,” said the coach, whose team opened a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes and grabbed a four-goal advantage when Duarte set up a pretty goal by Justin Cloutier at 6:42 of the second period. “Turnovers? It’s ridiculous. All we ask is for guys to go North with the puck, play a simple brand of hockey.”
Dean spoke of how his club did exactly that for 20 minutes and got an early lead.
The home team struggled with penalties in the middle frame, but still managed to take a 4-2 advantage into the third.
“And we get to thinking we’re better than we really are,” the coach continued. “We changed our style of play for absolutely no reason, and we paid the consequences for it.”
“Obviously, we have to put a full 60 together,” Duarte added. “We fell apart in the final 20 and they capitalized on our turnovers.”
Artyam Kulakov scored from the right point on a shot that appeared to beat a screened Schenkel to make it 4-1 at 8:06 of the middle frame.
The Hounds were forced to defend back-to-back 5-on-3s and Erie connected on the first when Carey Terrance scored a power-play goal at 12:54. That made it 4-2.
The home team was hit with five minor penalties in that frame.
“I hate our lack of discipline in the second period, that’s for sure,” Dean said. “We let them fight their way back into the game.”
Punctuated by sloppy play, a span of 4:14 in the final period proved devastating for the Soo.
Noah Sedore scored shorthanded to make it 4-3 at 7:47. On a delayed penalty less than three-minutes later, Malcolm Spence fired from the left face-off circle and beat Schenkel high glove.
The visitors took their first lead at 12:01 when Dylan Edwards beat his man to the net and gobbled up a rebound from Schenkel’s pads. That gave the Otters a 5-4 advantage.
But with Schenkel on the bench for a sixth attacker, Bryce McConnell-Barker won a draw and Duarte fired quickly, beating Kyle Downey low to the glove side.
“That’s as bad a third period as you can play,” Dean offered. “We had no puck management, guys making plays completely off script, losing battles, and then we lost battles in overtime. We didn’t deserve to win.”
Prior to Erie’s OT winner, Schenkel made a beautiful save on Spence 51 seconds into the extra frame.
Otters head coach Stan Butler, whose team improved to 18-29-1-4, spoke of how proud he was of his players successful comeback bid.
“I can’t recall coaching a team that was down four and came back like that,” Butler said. “It’s easy to quit. I thought our kids played really well. Total credit to the kids.”
Duarte and Carlisle finished with a goal and an assist each, on a night when the home side was outshot 32-29. Julian Fantino and Jordan D’Intino scored the other goals while McConnell-Barker finished with a pair of assists.
Pano Fimis had a pair of assists for the winners.
The Hounds are set to begin a three-game trip in St. Catharines against the Niagara IceDogs (7 p.m.) on Thursday. They visit Guelph (7:30 p.m.) on Friday and Kitchener (2 p.m.) on Sunday.
