RECAP; Cavallin cools off hot Hounds

by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Natalie Shaver

There’s little doubt who made the difference in Flint on Friday.

On a night when the Soo Greyhounds lived in their opponent’s zone, Luke Cavallin made 55 saves – including a multitude on Grade A scoring chances – as the Firebirds secured a 5-3 victory in front of 1,894 at Dort Financial Center.

Flint will take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven, Western Conference semifinal into Sunday’s second game (4 p.m.) in the Michigan city.

“We ran into a hot goalie. He made some great saves,” said Hounds defenceman Jack Thompson, who continued to excel in the postseason with a two-goal, one-assist performance. “It was a good, strong performance by us.”

“I thought their goalie played great – there’s no doubt about it,” added Hounds head coach John Dean, who watched his team record a season-high shot total, outshooting the Firebirds 58-31. “What a great response in the third. That’s a credit to our guys.”

When asked, Hounds winger Kalvyn Watson, who contributed a goal and two assists, agreed his team deserved a better fate.

“I think so, yeah,” he answered. “But things happen. There’s not much you can do. One-hundred per cent we’ll go into Sunday with confidence. We outplayed that team and we’ll do the same thing on Sunday.”

Trailing 2-0 entering the final frame, the Hounds tied the game before the period was seven minutes old.

But goals by Riley Piercey, at 7:16, and Coulson Pitre, at 13:50, restored Flint’s two-goal margin.

Thompson’s second goal of the game, and fifth of the playoffs, made it 4-3 at 15:46. But Pitre wrapped things up with an empty-net marker in the final minute.

“We did a lot of good things, but our intensity level has to be much higher,” said Dean, whose team won three of five regular season matches between the West Division rivals. “We need to get scrappier in front of the net and capitalize on our chances. We need to be better, that’s all there is to it.”

The Firebirds had three power-play opportunities and converted on two of them.

Ethan Keppen played a rebound off the end boards and beat Samuel Ivanov for a power-play goal at 5:58 of the first period.
Skating with the man advantage, Brennan Othmann beat Ivanov on the short side, just above the blocker, at 19:34 to make it 2-0.

After a scoreless middle stanza, Watson deposited the rebound of a Thompson shot past Cavallin to make it 2-1 at 5:04 of the third.

Through traffic just 1:20 later, Thompson snapped one low glove-side past Cavallin from the top of the right face-off circle to tie the game.

But 52 seconds after that, Piercy responded by scoring his first goal since March 11. On a 3-on-1, the Flint winger worked a give-and-go with Othmann before deposited the puck into the yawning cage.  That made it 3-2.

With the Soo pressing, Cavallin robbed Cole MacKay on a backhand chance at the 8:25 mark.

Just over five minutes later, Pitre made a beautiful individual effort, splitting the Hounds defence and beating Ivanov through the five-hole.

Thompson blasted a point shot through traffic to draw the Hounds back to within a single goal with 4:14 left in regulation.

But despite outshooting the home side 25-9 in the final frame, the Soo could get no closer.

Othmann finished with a goal and three assists for the winners while defenceman Dmitry Kuzmin also contributed three assists.

Watson spoke of how the Hounds need to be more disciplined, citing Flint’s two power-play goals in the opening period.

“Discipline has been the story for our team when things go badly,” he added.

Dean said he liked what he saw from his club in a number of areas.

“But at the end of the day, we didn’t find a way to win,” the coach added. “We’ll learn from the stuff that cost us and we’re excited about the formula moving forward.”

“We didn’t come in here expecting to sweep. We know this is going to be a hard series,” said Thompson, who continues to lead his team in playoff scoring with a 5-7-12 stat line. “All you have to do is split on the road.”

Despite coming up short on the scoreboard, centre Bryce McConnell-Barker talked about how the fact the visitors controlled the third period will enable them to take a lot of positives into Sunday’s second game.

“It was definitely good to dominate the third period. We tied the game up and had a chance to win it,” he added. “That gave us momentum going into Game 2 and we’ll come into it really wanting to win. It’s a big game in the series and we’re looking to tie it up returning home.”

Following this weekend’s games in Flint, the series moves to GFL Memorial Gardens for Games 3-4, Tuesday and Thursday (both at 7:07 p.m.).

If a fifth game is required, it would be played a week from Saturday in Flint (7 p.m.).

If necessary, Game 6 is slated for May 16 (7:07 p.m.) in the Sault. And should the series go the distance, the seventh game would be played on May 18 (7 p.m.) in Flint.

Notes:
Soo netminder Tucker Tynan, who played the first four games of the Guelph series, sat out the second game of a three-game, league-imposed suspension on Friday.

Tynan, who was assessed a match penalty for roughing in Game 4 against Guelph, is eligible to return to action for the third game of this series.