Soo stymied by 67’s goalie – again
by Peter Ruicci (Independent Media) | Photo by Bob Davies
It took a hot netminder to cool off the Soo Greyhounds on Sunday.
Ottawa’s Collin MacKenzie was again outstanding, backstopping the 67s to a 4-1 victory over the Hounds in front of 3,244 at TD Place.
It marked the second time this young season MacKenzie has caused the Soo fits. The 18-year-old (2004 birth year) was a standout on Oct. 13, making 32 stops in a 2-1 Ottawa win at GFL Memorial Gardens.
“He was fantastic again,” said Hounds head coach John Dean, whose team won the first two games of this three-game trip by a combined margin of 10-0, blanking Peterborough 4-0 and Kingston 6-0.
“Kudos to their goalie, he played a good game,” added Hounds captain Bryce McConnell-Barker, whose club fell to 7-4-0-0 heading into a Wednesday home game against Flint (7:07 p.m.).
On a day when his team held a 41-25 edge in shots – including 22-5 in Sunday’s second period – veteran centre Owen Allard also gave MacKenzie his due. Allard spoke of how the young netminder appears calm and reads the traffic in front of him well.
“But I think we needed a better net presence to take his eyes away,” Allard added. “We needed to find some greasy goals.”
While Dean admitted the obvious when it came to MacKenzie, the Soo coach also put some onus on his players.
“We need to find ways to put pucks in the net when we have opportunities,” the coach said. “We need to learn how to score goals when teams tighten up. We had more than enough chances.”
Dean also lamented his club’s lack of discipline, especially in the early part of the game.
The Soo took four minor penalties in the first period.
The Hounds coach spoke of how “six of the eight minutes were really poor penalties.”
The 67s converted one power-play into a goal and Dean noted how his club was racing to a 3-on-2 when whistled for another minor infraction.
“Taking eight minutes in penalties in the first period changed the momentum in the game,” Allard said. “If we had a different start, maybe it changes the outcome.”
Ottawa opened the scoring with a power-play goal at the 12-minute mark of the opening frame. A blown assignment allowed Brady Stonehouse to convert a 2-on-1. Stonehouse skated in alone on the left wing and beat Charlie Schenkel on the stick side to make it 1-0.
Midway through the second period, another defensive miscue allowed Caleb Lawrence to get behind the Soo defence. Lawrence took a feed from Charlie Hilton, skated in alone on Schenkel and went high to the blocker side to make it 2-0.
Later in the period, Soo winger Connor Clattenburg was stymied twice by MacKenzie on good scoring opportunities.
The visitors trimmed their deficit to 2-1 when Arttu Karki converted on yet another power-play opportunity. The first-year defenceman took a cross-ice feed from Jack Beck and, from his familiar spot in the right circle, fired a one-timer home at the 18:10 mark.
That’s 10 goals – including an OHL-leading seven with the man advantage – in 11 games for the Viala, Finland, native.
The Soo failed to connect on a power-play chance early in the third after Derek Smyth was whistled for cross-checking at 3:19.
“We had to capitalize on that power play in the third period,” Dean said. “If we tie it up we probably win the game.”
Lawrence notched his second goal of the game at 13:15 when Henry Mews took a feed from Sault native Cooper Foster before firing a point shot that was deflected in front. A big rebound popped out to Lawrence in the slot and he banged it home to make it 3-1. The Hounds pushed hard in the final seconds before Ottawa’s Brad Gardiner added an empty-netter with 19.8 seconds left in regulation.
After back-to-back losses to the 67s, who are now 5-3-0-0, Dean spoke of the lessons he expects his team to learn.
“Not being on the right side of the puck matters, taking undisciplined penalties matters, losing coverage matters,” the coach began. “When you play a tight, structured team, every play matters.”
However, all things considered, the Hounds couldn’t help but celebrate their road-trip performance.
Taking two of three on a long Eastern swing left Allard “proud of the effort we gave the entire road trip. To get back-to-back shutouts in the first two games is really hard to do.”
“Obviously, we wanted to win all three, but it was a good trip,” McConnell-Barker added. “The first two games were a good bounce back from a tough weekend at home. We’re happy, but we’re not satisfied.”
Dean said he was pleased to see the Hounds “battle right to the bitter end.”
Following Wednesday’s home tilt against Flint, the Soo is slated to visit Saginaw on Friday (7:05 p.m.) and Flint on Saturday (7 p.m.).