Process continues to take precedence as Greyhounds regular season winds down

With the process being of added importance as the Soo Greyhounds approach the opening game on the Ontario Hockey League playoffs next week, they’re happy with what they saw on Wednesday night.

Opening their final homestand of the regular season, the Greyhounds skated to a 3-1 win over the Sarnia Sting at the GFL Memorial Gardens, outshooting the Sting by a 41-18 margin in the process.

On the defensive side of the puck for the Greyhounds, the early stages of the game saw some tough situations, but puck management became a positive as the night progressed.

“Turnovers (were an issue) in the first ten minutes and after that we managed the puck quite well,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said.

“When we manage the puck well, we tend to play well defensively,” Dean also said.

For Sting coach Alan Letang, the effort was a pleasing one despite the result.

“I’m definitely happy with our effort,” Letang said. “Nick (Surzycia) was real good early on. If that game gets 1-0 or 2-0 early, it probably ends up like last time we were up here.”

Letang agreed that the Greyhounds scoring on both penalties in a 5-on-3 power play was a difference-maker in the game.

“You don’t want to give a team like that too many opportunities on the power play,” Letang said. “When you go down 5-on-3 it’s just a matter of some time or you need a huge save or a blocked shot and they found a way to get the two. It got them excited. It got the crowd back in it and they rolled from there.”

Ahead of the two-man advantage, while the Greyhounds were trailing 1-0, Dean said he felt his team played “fantastic.”

“We thought we had a real good game,” Dean added. “I’m not saying that we were dominant, but we didn’t give up much.”

Dean added that the Greyhounds felt they out-chanced the Sting “at least two to one after 40 minutes.”

Dean admitted that he didn’t like the early stages of the game for the Greyhounds in the win.

“It just looked very vanilla,” Dean said of the opening eight minutes of the game. “(Last weekend) we felt like we were quite a vanilla team. We looked like a team that knew they were already in the playoffs and knew where we were going to stand. That’s not the way to go into the playoffs. We have to make sure our habits are strong, and our process remains the same. I was a little concerned there for the first five or eight minutes, but the bench was fantastic. The older guys did a good job of pulling the guys in.”

After a scoreless opening period, Sarnia opened the scoring in the middle period thanks to a goal by Cooper Way. The veteran forward scored on a chance in close after Sarnia’s Tyson Doucette was pulled down in the slot with the puck. The loose puck found its way to Way, who opened the scoring at 4:53.

After back-to-back penalties to the Sting, the Greyhounds got on the board in both ends of the power plays.

Bryce McConnell-Barker tied the game as he took a pass in the slot from Gavin Hayes and beat Nick Surzycia glove side 33 seconds into the 5-on-3.

The Greyhounds then took the lead 52 seconds later as Marco Mignosa scored on a rebound in tight after Brady Martin's initial shot was stopped.

The home team then made it a 3-1 game 54 seconds later as Andrew Gibson skated into the right faceoff circle and beat Surzycia high short side at 10:04.

Miller finished the night with 17 saves for the Greyhounds while Surzycia stopped 38 shots for the Sting.

Both coaches spoke of Surzycia being solid in the loss for the Sting.

“Nick epitomizes what we were this year after the Christmas break,” Letang said.

“He wasn’t happy with his last two games, and you knew he was going to step up and play,” Letang also said. “When he controls his rebounds, he looks big in the net for a smaller guy, he looked confident making those saves. Hell of an effort from him. Probably in the last month, that was probably his best game he’s played for us.”

“Their goalie played quite well,” Dean said.

The Greyhounds return to action for a pair of games at home this weekend, beginning Friday night against the Flint Firebirds before wrapping up the regular season on Sunday afternoon against the Saginaw Spirit. 

The Greyhounds pull to within three points of Saginaw for top spot in the West Division. The Spirit have a game in hand on the Greyhounds and are slated to face Sarnia on Friday and the Windsor Spitfires on Saturday before making the trip north.

Wednesday’s win improves the Greyhounds record to 44-17-3-2 heading into the regular season's final weekend.

Sarnia, who is already out of playoff contention in the OHL's Western Conference, falls to 24-38-3-1 with the loss.

For the final two games, Dean said the plan for the team will be to rest players,

“We’ll probably have two of our veterans out on Friday and maybe three on Sunday,” Dean said.