RECAP; Hounds drop weekend opener
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
They gave their opponents too many chances and failed to generate enough themselves.
That, in a nutshell, was the story for the Soo Greyhounds on Saturday.
Eighteen shots on goal and very few Grade A scoring opportunities “isn’t going to get it done,” said Hounds defenceman Jack Thompson, whose club blew a 2-0 lead and fell 5-3 to the Windsor Spitfires before 3,481 at GFL Memorial Gardens.
The Spits have won six out of seven against the Hounds heading into the final regular season clash between the teams, Sunday at 2:07 p.m. here.
“Give them credit – they played us hard,” added Thompson. “But we need to generate more.”
“It was frustrating. We need to get more than 18 chances,” said centre Bryce McConnell-Barker after his team recorded its lowest shots total of the Ontario Hockey League season.
The Soo’s previous low was 23 shots in a 4-1 loss at Guelph on Oct. 30, 2021.
“We focused on being above the puck, being on top of guys, being strong in front of our net, not giving second chances and limiting them through the neutral zone,” said Spits head coach Marc Savard, whose team improved to 37-16-3-3 and gained ground on both the Soo and Flint in the race for top spot in the West Division.
With 80 points, Windsor is seven points up on the third-place Greyhounds (33-19-6-1). Second-place Flint dropped a 5-4 decision to Saginaw and fell to 35-19-1-4, five points behind Windsor.
All three division contenders have nine regular season games remaining.
Hounds head coach John Dean spoke of how he liked the way his club played over the first half of the contest.
But on a night when his team was outshot 33-18, he used the phrase “self-inflicted wounds” several times, while analyzing what cost his club.
“In the second half of the game we didn’t generate much and we tried to do too much,” Dean explained. “We lost a lot of 1-on-1 battles, we had terrible rush coverage, turned pucks over and gave them a lot of opportunities.”
The Hounds coach also spoke of where he thought it began to go downhill for his club.
Two minutes after Rory Kerins scored his second goal of the game, giving the Soo a 3-2 lead in the second period, the Spitfires tied it on a beautiful shot by Will Cuylle.
Wyatt Johnston, the OHL’s leading scorer, won a draw and Cuylle quickly rifled a shot past Hounds netminder Tucker Tynan high to the glove-hand side. Cuylle’s second of three goals on the night tied the score 3-3 at the 11:44 mark.
“After the Cuylle goal we looked deflated,” Dean said. “These are two very-good hockey clubs. But after that, we tried to be a little bit cuter and all of a sudden, we started with the self-inflicted wounds. After that goal, I thought they were the better team by far.”
Windsor took the lead for good early in the third period when Daniel D’Amico’s shot from the left face-off circle beat Tynan high to the glove side. That made it 4-3.
Cuylle completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal with 2:05 remaining in regulation. Johnston outbattled Ryan O’Rourke behind the Hounds goal and the puck popped out to Cuylle in front.
“We need to play 60 minutes,” said O’Rourke, who scored his third goal in three games, giving the Soo a 2-0 lead with a power-play marker at 12:10 of the opening period. “This wasn’t our best game. There’s room to improve.”
Rory Kerins was assessed slashing and unsportsmanlike minors at 16:50 of the opening frame and the Spits power play converted on both opportunities.
Wyatt Johnston, at 17:13, and Cuylle, 43 seconds later, tied the contest 2-2.
“That was huge,” Savard said of the back-to-back power-play tallies, while also noting how proud he was of his charges. “We capitalized and that got us back into the game.”
Johnston finished with a goal and two assists, boosting his season stat line to 39-71-110. Louka Henault contributed two assists.
Kerins had two goals and an assist in defeat. The veteran centre stands second in the points race with a 38-63-101 stat line. Cole MacKay contributed a pair of assists and Tynan made a number of big saves in tight.
Dean called Tynan’s performance “fantastic. He kept us in the game.”
With time running out in the regular season, O’Rourke referred to Sunday’s contest as being “definitely critical. Everyone in this room has a fire and a spark within them.”
“The only good part of losing is we get to go back at them” on Sunday, added Thompson. “We’ll go in with a clear mindset and a determination to win.”
McConnell-Barker pointed out how he and his teammates realize they’re getting to the point where they must win out.
Dean said the Hounds will focus on better puck management, rush coverage, exits and more pressure on the forecheck.
“We have to be better,” the coach added.
