Flat finish buries Greyhounds in road trip finale

It couldn’t have ended much worse.

Leading by a goal with 20 minutes to go in the final game of a three-game road trip, the final period of the trip was one that they would rather forget on the ride home.

The Soo Greyhounds surrendered five goals in the third period in a 5-1 Ontario Hockey League loss to the Barrie Colts on Saturday night at Sadlon Arena in Barrie.

The Colts took the lead with a pair of goals just over four minutes apart early in the period and then sealed the win with three more, including two in the final six minutes of regulation time to pick up the victory.

Greyhounds coach John Dean said the game was one in which “we just never found our legs.”

“That’s a super flat effort for us,” Dean also said. “You could kind of feel that third period and sense it coming. We were doing everything as a staff and as a group to manufacture some energy, but just couldn’t seem to find any. That’s as flat a game as we’ve played all year.”

Dean also called the third period “uncharacteristic.”

Asked what led to the Greyhounds coming out flat in the game, Dean said playing with a short bench is “the easy answer.”

“In hindsight, we may look back on this and say it caught up to us a bit,” Dean added.

Overage forward Jack Beck added that he felt there wasn’t a lot of energy on the bench in the game.

“We just didn’t have a lot of jam tonight,” Beck said. “Just not a lot of jam, not a lot of energy from our bench, whereas we would usually have that.”

The Greyhounds got on the board first midway through the first period as Beck beat Barrie goaltender Ben West from the left faceoff circle after a shot by Kirill Kudryavtsev from the top of the right circle was wide of the goal, but deflected to Beck off the end boards, giving the Greyhounds a 1-0 lead 10:25 into the game.

After the teams skated through a scoreless second period, the Colts got on the board early in the third period.

Beau Jelsma grabbed a turnover by Greyhounds forward Justin Cloutier near the Barrie blueline and skated in alone on Sault goaltender Landon Miller, beating the rookie with a deke stick side 1:09 into the final period to tie the game.

Just over four minutes later, the Colts took the lead as Cole Beaudoin skated down the left wing and cut to the net before sliding the puck 5-hole past Miller on a backhand at 5:15.

Barrie made it a 3-1 game at 8:07 when Riley Patterson skated into the slot and beat Miller stick side on a one-timer after a pass from the right wing by defenceman Kashawn Aitcheson.

Veteran forward Jacob Frasca added to the lead with 5:22 to go as he redirected a pass at the edge of the crease from Patterson on the left side past Miller with the Colts on a two-man advantage.

Frasca sealed the win for the Colts with an empty net goal with 2:16 to go in regulation time.

Miller made 28 saves for the Greyhounds in what was his third consecutive start.

Dean said veteran Charlie Schenkel is still under the weather, which led to Miller getting the start in all three games on the road trip.

In addition to the two-goal night from Frasca, Patterson paced the Colts in the victory with a goal and two assists.

Aitcheson also had a pair of helpers for Barrie.

West stopped 29 shots for the Colts.

With the loss, the Greyhounds fall to 25-11-2-1 on the season. The loss also turned into a missed opportunity for the Greyhounds after the Kitchener Rangers fell to the Sudbury Wolves on Saturday night in Sudbury.

The results of the two contests leave the Greyhounds one point behind the Rangers for top spot in the OHL’s Western Conference.

The Saginaw Spirit also pull to within four points of the Greyhounds following a 6-2 victory over the Peterborough Petes in Saginaw on Saturday night.

Saginaw has four games in hand on the Greyhounds, one of which will be on Sunday when they host the Oshawa Generals.

The Rangers are also in action on Sunday as the team wraps up a northern road swing with a game in North Bay.

In the Western Conference, the London Knights have won nine in a row and now also sit one point behind Kitchener for top spot in the conference.

The Colts, who are trying to catch Peterborough and Oshawa for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, improve to 15-19-1-0 and are three points back of the Petes and five back of the Generals, who beat Flint 10-2 on Saturday.

Next up for the Greyhounds is a pair of home games next weekend, beginning on Friday night with a game against the Guelph Storm.