As much as the message to the players was that coming back was a possibility, an early deficit was too much to overcome.
Spending an extended portion of the first half of the first period shorthanded and falling behind by four through one period, the Soo Greyhounds couldn’t find their way back into the game and ultimately dropped a 7-2 decision to the Niagara IceDogs on Thursday night at the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines.
While saying he was excited about the intensity of his team and “our willingness to not give in to a very difficult game”,Greyhounds coach John Dean also said “we cannot have these catastrophic mistakes.”
“We carried play and then we’d make a catastrophic mistake (and) it’s in the back of our net,” Dean added. “We’re at a stage in the season where you can’t talk about youth anymore. You can’t talk about experience. This is a time where the mistakes need to be nipped in the bud.”
Despite trailing 4-0 through one period, Dean said that the message after the opening period was that the team still felt like they had a chance in the game.
“I liked our pace of play, our intensity,” Dean said of the opening period. “I liked our offensive zone play with the exception of the miscues for odd-man rushes.”
“It’s disappointing that we made such big mistakes,” Dean added.
Discipline early on was also costly early on in the game for the Greyhounds, who spent much of the first half of the opening period shorthanded in the loss.
While saying he didn’t necessarily agree with all of the calls, Dean said “we have to understand what’s occurred in front of us and realize that everything is being called.”
“Control your stick, control your aggression,” Dean added. “You can’t spend the first ten minutes in the box. It’s very difficult on so many different levels. Guys get tired. Guys don’t see minutes. It’s very difficult.”
Niagara got on the board first 6:29 in as Andrei Loshko took a feed in the slot from Ryan Roobroeck and beat Greyhounds starter Landon Miller glove side off a one-timer on the man advantage at 6:29.
Just under five minutes later, Niagara added to the lead thanks to a goal by Ivan Galiyanov. He converted from the slot after IceDogs forward Mike Levin forced a turnover down low and hit Galiyanov with a pass.
Levin then picked up his first goal of the night at 17:22 of the opening period as he took a pass from Braidy Wassilyn and beat Miller to make it a 3-0 game.
The IceDogs weren’t done there in the opening period as Loshko scored his second of the night 1:16 later. The overage forward scored on a rebound after the initial shot on the play from Galiyanov hit the crossbar and rebounded back into the slot.
Midway through the second period, Loshko scored his third of the night as he took a pass from Galiyanov while skating in the right faceoff circle and outwaited Miller in the Sault goal to make it 5-0 at 10:28 of the middle period.
The goal ended Miller’s night as Charlie Schenkel entered the game in relief of the second-year netminder.
The Greyhounds finally got on the board in the opening minute of the third period. Veteran forward Marco Mignosa beat IceDogs goaltender Owen Flores from the left circle on a one-timer of a pass from Jordan Charron 34 seconds into the frame.
Niagara made it a 6-1 game just under four minutes later as Levin got on the board again. Levin scored his second of the night as he converted a pass in the right faceoff circle from Wassilyn.
Greyhounds forward Tate Vader made it 6-2 with 4:59 to go in the third period as he beat Flores from in tight off a loose puck after the initial shot on the play from the top of the left circle by Brodie McConnell-Barker was blocked on the way to the net and redirected to Vader in close.
Levin capped off the scoring with his third of the night with 2:48 to go as he scored shorthanded into an empty Sault net.
Charron assisted on both goals for the Greyhounds in the setback
Miller stopped 18 of the 23 shots he faced before being pulled. Schenkel stopped 13 of 14 shots the rest of the way.
Levin finished the night with three goals and an assist for the IceDogs in addition to the three-goal night from Loshko.
Galiyanov had a goal and a pair of assists while Roobroeck and Ethan Czata also had three-point nights with three assists each for Niagara.
Wassilyn had a pair of helpers as well in the victory.
Flores stopped 43 shots.
The Greyhounds return to action on Friday night in Erie against the Otters before wrapping up their three-game road trip Sunday afternoon in Brampton against the Steelheads.
The Greyhounds take a 12-10-0-0 record into Friday’s game while Niagara improves to 14-7-0-0 following Thursday’s game.
Notes: Owen Allard remains out day-to-day for the Greyhounds and his status for Friday’s game remains up in the air.
Christopher Brown reinjured a pre-existing injury in the game and Dean said he likely won’t play for the rest of the trip.
After leaving the game due to injury in the second period before returning for a short time in the third period, defenceman Andrew Gibson left the game in the third period and did not return as a precautionary measure.
Noel Nordh also left the game with a lower body injury for the Greyhounds on Thursday night. Dean said Nordh will miss Friday’s game against Erie for sure as a precautionary measure.