HEADING TO ROUND TWO; Bunting’s hat trick helps Hounds eliminate Attack in five games
Photo courtesy of James Egan Photography; Post-game audio provided by Brad Coccimiglio (Sootoday.com)
SAULT STE. MARIE, ON-
The Soo Greyhounds ran out of the gates on Friday Night establishing the lead early, and would never take a peak in the rearview mirror.
After building up a 3-0 lead through twenty minutes of play the Hounds scored three times over the remainder of regulation before downing the Owen Sound Attack 6 to 1.
“No, it was excellent. Not unlike Game 2, it was what we wanted from our guys. We wanted to come out, we wanted to assert ourselves early on, obviously wanted to get a lead like we have all series long. It was excellent. The twenty minutes were superb” commented Head Coach Sheldon Keefe when asked if he could have imagined the start any better.
ALEX GUDBRANSON got the offensive ball rolling 1:38 into the first period converting on the rush and backhanding the puck past Jack Flinn for the 1-0 lead.
BLAKE SPEERS and JEAN DUPUY picked up the assists.
Less than two minutes later PATRICK WATLING kept the puck in at the Owen Sound blueline before starting off a nifty play with ANDREW FRITSCH that was eventually capped off by TYLER GAUDET for his 2nd goal of the post-season and a 2-0 Greyhound lead.
The Hounds had scored two goals on two consecutive shots.
Within seconds of the the two goal lead the Hounds penalty kill went to work for the first time and two big time blocks kept their lead in tact.
Before the first period was ten minutes old (9:46), BLAKE SPEERS and DAVID MILLER worked the puck behind the Attack net on the man advantage where the feed was sent out front for MICHAEL BUNTING to put home his 3rd goal of the series, and build a 3-0 Greyhound lead.
For SPEERS and MILLER, it marked the trio’s first career playoff points, and would just be the start of their night.
JARED MCCANN would later have power play chances including hitting a cross bar as the Hounds skated through twenty-minutes with a three goal cushion.
Thanks to a Jeffrey Gilligan double minor late in the first, 3:33 would carry over of the powerplay into the second period.
Then with Kyle Platzer tagged tripping minor in the opening minute the Hounds advantage increased to a two man advantage and they would strike.
A JARED MCCANN point shot came off the glass behind the Attack net and would be handled in front by MICHAEL BUNTING for his second goal of the night, increasing the lead to 4-0.
Owen Sound would get on the board with under five minutes to go in the period when Chris Bigras’ point shot snuck past Murray who had Justin Brack standing in front, cutting the Hounds lead to 4-1 after two periods.
An early Hounds chance developed to start the third period when BRYAN MOORE sent a long pass to PATRICK WATLING who’s redirection was stopped by Flinn.
Then with eleven minutes to go in regulation, JARED MCCANN circled the Owen Sound goal three occasions in the single shift creating chances that were unrewarded for the Hounds.
MICHAEL BUNTING completed the hat trick at 13:30 with assists to SPEERS and MILLER.
“He’s just so hungry around the net. He has such an ability from the hashmarks down. We seen it on display here tonight. He has an unbelievable stick. That’s five goals in the series for him and it’s credit to the depth we have” began Keefe when asked about #27.
“I thought Miller and Speers by far had they’re best game of the series and when we get contributions like that throughout our line-up we’ve become pretty fun to watch” he continued.
The Hounds would later face an Attack 5-on-3 powerplay but with, or without the stick had determined efforts to kill it off in a big way.
Scoring would concluded with 27 seconds to play when DARNELL NURSE’S point shot hit the back of the net capping off the 6-1 victory for the Hounds.
With the victory, the Hounds win the best-of-seven series with the Attack 4 games to 2. It’s the club’s first post season series victory since back in 2008.
“I’m real proud. It’s a group that they just come work hard everyday and they learned in this series just how good they can be. We understand that we’re going on to face a whole other level of opponent but they learned about themselves.
And I”m just thrilled for our guys, especially our older guys” started Keefe about how he proud he was for his club.
“You look at Matt Murray that’s put in four years here to have this be his first playoff win, first series win. Guys like him they are excellent stories.”
The coach went on to extend his thoughts to the fans.
“And what can I say about the fans tonight. It was such an unbelievable turnout tonight, and you could see how badly they want to see a team win a series and keep playing into April and it feels gratifying for us as an organization to be able to deliver that not only to our players but to our fans.”
TICKETS for Games 1 & 2 of Round 2 of the playoffs go on-sale tomorrow (Saturday, March 29th) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Essar Centre Box Office and then continue beginning at 10 a.m. Monday morning.
(confirmed schedule to be released at a later time).
ATTENDANCE – 4,749
RED STAR THREE STARS OF THE GAME
1- SSM, Michael Bunting
2- SSM, Blake Speers
3- SSM, David Miller
To view the complete online scoresheet courtesy of the Ontario Hockey League CLICK HERE.
