RECAP; Hounds blow late lead in North Bay
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Tom Martineau
The final five minutes proved costly for the Soo Greyhounds on Thursday.
Up until that point, the Hounds were in position to open a four-game, six-day road trip on a winning note.
But North Bay Battalion winger Matvey Petrov wiped out a 2-1 Hounds lead by scoring a pair of goals 1:57 apart late in the third period. The home team proceeded to add two empty-net markers to cap a 5-2 victory over the Soo before 500 at North Bay Memorial Gardens.
“That’s why games are 60 minutes,” lamented Hounds’ centre Rory Kerins. “That was an unacceptable five minutes we’ll have to learn from. Leading 2-1 going into the third period, those are playoff games there. We have to win those games.”
Asked what happened over the final minutes, Kerins spoke of how he’s “still trying to figure it out.”
He was on the ice for Petrov’s first goal and both empty-netters.
“I take a bit of the blame. Some of it is on me,” said the 19-year-old (2002 birth year) native of Caledon, Ont.
Kerins, who had a goal and an assist to increase his OHL-leading points total (26-43-69), also spoke of his team’s recent penchant for surrendering goals late in regulation.
Last Friday, Flint scored a tying goal with 3:33 left in regulation, before beating the Soo 5-4 in overtime. One day later, Barrie scored in the final second of regulation to force overtime in what was eventually a 4-3 Greyhounds victory.
Two weeks ago, Windsor scored with 25 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. The Spits eventually prevailed 3-2 in a shootout.
“It’s not a trend you want to see continue. We have to nip this in the bud,” added Kerins, whose club fell to 23-13-3-1 heading into Friday’s second of back-to-back 7 p.m. clashes in North Bay. “In this league (55 minutes), isn’t going to get it done.”
The Greyhounds played minus three key skaters. But they had managed to overcome the absence of centre Tanner Dickinson (broken right femur), winger Cole MacKay (upper-body injury) and defenceman Rob Calisti (upper-body injury) for most of the night.
“Tough way for our guys to lose. We played 55 pretty-darn-good minutes,” said head coach John Dean, whose team dropped its third straight to the Battalion after opening the season with back-to-back wins over North Bay. “I thought our guys played a very committed game. We managed the puck very well, we got above the puck very well, and we generated enough scoring chances, I thought, to win a hockey game.”
However, with 4:47 remaining in regulation, Petrov’s shot from the left face-off circle deflected off of Jack Thompson’s skate, before going between the pads of Hounds netminder Tucker Tynan. That tied the score 2-2.
Hard work along the boards by Brandon Coe helped pave the way for the go-ahead goal at 17:10 of the third period. Coe got the puck to Mitchell Russell who fed Petrov in front. His 24th of the season beat Tynan to make it 3-2.
Dean talked of how the tying goal was the result of a bad break for the Hounds. He also spoke of how it “clearly deflated us a bit. Whenever you put it all on the line, and we were doing that, and something negative likes that happens, it’s a frustrating moment.”
Dean explained how, at that point, a team has to regroup quickly.
“And obviously, we didn’t,” he said. “I’m proud of the guys, but unfortunately the story line is going to be those last five minutes.”
Ryan O’Rourke, following a no-look, behind the back-pass by Kalvyn Watson, opened the scoring on the power play six minutes into the first period.
After Russell tied the game by beating Tynan with a bad-angle goal the netminder would like back, Kerins put the visitors in front at 17:23 of the opening frame. Tye Kartye won a battle in the corner and fed Kerins, who ripped a shot through the five-hole on netminder Joe Vrbetic.
The score stayed that way until Petrov took over, helping his club improve to 21-15-3-3.
With the score 3-2, Kyle McDonald and Russell, with his second of the night, added empty-net markers in the final two minutes. North Bay held a 34-28 edge in shots.
Petrov and Russell contributed two goals and an assist each while Coe (26-42-68), who is tied for second in league scoring, added two assists.
“That was definitely our game to win. I felt like we should have won the game,” said Hounds centre Bryce McConnell-Barker, who is taking on additional responsibility with Dickinson on the shelf. “We just let off a little bit in the last 10 minutes. It’s unfortunate how it ended.”
Skating on the Soo’s second line, flanked by Watson and Tyler Savard, McConnell-Barker shone in defeat.
“He was fantastic,” Dean said of McConnell-Barker, while also praising his linemates. “They went against North Bay’s No. 1 line all night.”
Skating without standout forward Kyle Jackson, the Battalion is paced by the line of Coe, Petrov and Michael Podolioukh.
“It was good playing with Savvy and Watty,” McConnell-Barker said. “We definitely generated a lot of offence and we shut down their top guys for the most part. There were no goals against our line. It gave my confidence a boost.”
Notes:
Dean said he expects both MacKay and Calisti to miss Friday’s game, but hopes they’ll see action at some point during this trip.
The Hounds are in Sudbury on both Sunday and Tuesday.
