They came out of the gate like it was the most important game of the season, but they didn’t finish it that way.
The Soo Greyhounds looked dominant early on and poised to get some breathing room over the Owen Sound Attack for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Ontario Hockey League’s Western Conference.
Instead, they enter a new week tied with the Attack heading into the final weeks of the OHL regular season.
The Attack erased a 3-1 Sault lead in the final 10 minutes of regulation time before scoring late in overtime to beat the Greyhounds by a 4-3 score Sunday afternoon at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
The loss continues a trend of blown leads by the team this season.
“It’s difficult to swallow,” said Greyhounds coach John Dean.
Dean said he saw “a little bit of panic” from his team in the last 10 minutes of regulation time.
“We started looking nervous with pucks in our own end,” Dean said. “Inside the panic, all of a sudden positional panic happens. You start throwing pucks away, turning pucks over.”
“If you panic on your skill and you lack confidence in those tough areas, positional panic will follow right after because the four other guys don’t know what you’re trying to execute or, if you don’t execute, the four other guys are trying to recover off of failed execution.”
Dean added that execution offensively was an issue for the Greyhounds in the setback.
“When you have that many opportunities, you have to score goals,” Dean said.
“We have a tough time capitalizing on our chances when we’re playing a really good game,” Dean added. “We have to have a sense of urgency early on so that game’s not even possible for them to come back.”
Owen Sound coach Scott Wray was direct in his comments on his club following the win.
“We were good for 10 minutes tonight,” Wray said.
“(The Greyhounds) were outstanding for 50 minutes,” Wray added. “The first period, going into the second, I thought we could have been outshot 70-10 tonight. It was insane how hard they came out. They knew the severity of the moment and our young group didn’t.”
Wray said the Attack got some confidence late in the game and it started to change the game.
“Things started to snowball and (the Greyhounds) played on their heels,” Wray said. “Nothing went right in the first. It was just stick to what we are and they didn’t see what we are until later in the third. All of a sudden, we started to get pucks behind them, cycles going low to high, getting pucks on net.”
Goaltender Carter George was also a difference in the game for the Attack, stopping 39 shots for the visitors, including 33 through the first 40 minutes.
“He was outstanding,” Wray said of the veteran netminder. “There’s a reason he’s the best goalie in his age group. He’s special to watch.”
“We owe that entire win to Carter George,” Wray added.
A wave of shots in the opening period eventually led to the Greyhounds opening the scoring. Brady R. Smith went to the net and beat Attack goaltender George from in tight after a shot by Noel Nordh missed the net and redirected back into the slot at 8:02.
The Greyhounds took a 2-0 lead 2:16 into the second period as Christopher Brown beat George on a wraparound to the glove side.
Owen Sound cut the Greyhounds lead to 2-1 when Lenny Greenberg got the puck from Declan Waddick after a faceoff win and beat Sault goaltender Landon Miller stick side on the power play 1:22 later.
The Greyhounds thought they took a 3-1 lead later in the period when Noel Nordh beat George in tight on a rebound of his own shot, but the goal was called back after a video review for an offside.
The Greyhounds eventually made it a 3-1 game when Marco Mignosa found himself in the left faceoff circle and beat George glove side just inside the post with 2:55 to go in the middle period.
The score would stay that way until James Petrovski pulled the visitors back to within a goal at 10:17 of the third period. The blueliner took a shot from the left point that hit a body in close and deflected past Miller to make it a 3-2 game.
The Attack then tied the game with 4:46 to go in regulation time by capitalizing on the Greyhounds' inability to clear the puck defensively. Pierce Mbuyi beat Miller with a one-timer from the slot on a pass from Landon Hookey on the play to force overtime.
In the extra frame, shortly after George thwarted a 2-on-0 opportunity by Brady Martin on a pass from Nordh, Cole Zurawski capped off the comeback as he skated into the Sault zone and beat Miller with a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle with 1:05 to go in the extra frame.
Miller stopped 23 shots for the Greyhounds in the loss.
In addition to picking up his first OHL goal, Greenberg finished the day with a goal and two assists for the Attack offensively.
Tristan Delisle also assisted on a pair of goals for Owen Sound.
The loss drops the Greyhounds record to 22-32-2-1 on the season and makes things murkier in the battle for the final playoff spot in the OHL’s Western Conference.
The Attack improve to 20-30-4-3 with the win and now sit tied with the Greyhounds for eighth in the conference.
Combined with a loss by the Sarnia Sting on Sunday afternoon, the Greyhounds and Attack also sit two points behind the Sting for seventh in the conference. Sarnia has a game in hand on both teams.
Also with games in hand, the Guelph Storm sit three points back of the Greyhounds and Attack in the standings.
The Greyhounds are scheduled to return to action with three games this week at home as part of a seven-game homestand.
The team will host the North Bay Battalion on Tuesday night to make up a postponed game from late November before hosting the Sudbury Wolves on Wednesday night and the Brampton Steelheads on Friday.