Facing one of the Ontario Hockey League’s hottest teams, the Soo Greyhounds feel they deserved a better fate.
They outshot their opponent and came back from three goals down in the third period before dropping an 8-6 decision to the Brantford Bulldogs Monday afternoon in Brantford.
Trailing 6-3 in the third period, the Greyhounds battled back to tie the game, which included scoring a pair of shorthanded goals on the same Brantford power play, but then surrendered a pair of goals late to fall to a Brantford team that has won eight of their past 10 games and sit atop the Eastern Conference standings.
“This is a super tough pill to swallow,” said veteran forward Marco Mignosa. “We played well. We had a little lapse there where we went down 6-3, but we bounced back. To lose like that is not fun.”
Greyhounds coach John Dean agreed that Monday’s loss was the most heartbreaking one of the season.
“Yeah, this is tough,” Dean said.
Dean added that he felt the game was “definitely a sign of how good our team is playing.”
“That’s the hottest team in the east,” Dean said. “We deserved a better fate and were the better hockey club tonight, which makes (the result) really difficult to swallow for sure.”
Dean said he saw a lot from his team in the third period of Sunday’s game.
“I saw a relentless group,” Dean said. “I saw a team that’s not willing to throw in the towel ever. I also saw a team that believes we can come back from a deficit.”
“We have a group here that refuses ever thinking the game is over,” Dean added. “That’s a huge credit to them that they come back and make it 6-6.”
“I was proud of our effort at the end,” Cloutier added.
“We definitely showed no quit there,” Cloutier also said. “We were confident in our game plan; we stuck to it.”
Mignosa said battling back in the third period “shows we care.”
“A lot of teams would just roll over and everybody do their own thing, but we stuck to it,” Mignosa said.
In what was seemingly a trend throughout the game, the teams traded goals through the opening period, beginning when Greyhounds forward Noel Nordh scored on a rebound in front after Brantford goaltender Ryerson Leenders stopped rookie forward Carson Andrew initially at 8:44.
Brantford then got on the board as high-scoring forward Nick Lardis took a pass from Jake O’Brien, skated into the left faceoff circle and beat Greyhounds goaltender Landon Miller short side at 15:12.
The Greyhounds made it a 2-1 game at 17:12 when Justin Cloutier got the puck in the right faceoff circle and hesitated before shooting the puck through a screen by Marco Mignosa and beating Leenders high short side on the power play.
Before the end of the period, Cole Brown took a pass in open ice from Lardis on the left wing and beat Miller at 18:47.
Brantford took the lead for the first time when Tomas Hamara took a shot through some traffic on the power play that found its way past Miller at 43 seconds into the second period. The goal came just 10 seconds into the man advantage.
The Bulldogs then made it a two-goal game at 3:09 when Thomas Budnick took a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle that beat Miller high glove side to make it a 4-2 game.
The Greyhounds cut the lead to 4-3 when Chase Reid entered the Brantford zone as the trailer on a play that saw him take a pass from Mignosa before stepping around a Bulldogs player in the high slot. The blueliner then beat Leenders with a shot stick side at 5:47.
Brantford took a 5-3 lead at 2:23 of the third period when Patrick Thomas grabbed a turnover in the neutral zone by the Greyhounds. Thomas then hit Brown with a pass on a 2-on-1 and the latter beat Miller to stretch the Brantford lead again.
The Bulldogs added to the lead further 30 seconds later when Brown beat Miller with a one-timer from the right faceoff circle on an odd-man rush that saw him take a pass from Marek Vanacker to make it 6-3 Brantford.
The goal ended Miller’s night in goal as Noah Tegelaar entered the game between the pipes for the Sault.
Cloutier pulled the Greyhounds back to within two at 11:10 when he circled the Brantford zone from the left wing and beat Leenders with a shot from the slot to make it a 6-4 game.
The shorthanded markers that ultimately evened the score first saw Mignosa capitalize on a Brantford turnover at 13:37 Shortly after Martin hit the post, Mignosa grabbed a defensive zone turnover and beat Leenders from the left faceoff circle to make it a one-goal game.
Off the ensuing faceoff at centre ice, Travis Hayes then tied the game as he beat Leenders from the left faceoff circle high short side to make it a 6-6 game.
The goals came 11 seconds apart for the visitors.
Brantford made it a 7-6 game with 1:24 to go in regulation time as Noah Nelson scored on an open net after Joshua Avery stole the puck from Tegelaar behind the Greyhounds net after the netminder came out to play a dump in.
O’Brien capped off the scoring for Brantford with 15 seconds to go with an empty net goal.
Mignosa finished the day with a goal and two assists for the Greyhounds.
In addition to the two-goal day from Cloutier, Reid and Nordh had a goal and an assist each while Caeden Carlisle also had a two-point performance with a pair of assists.
Miller stopped 17 of 23 shots for the Greyhounds before coming out of the game. Tegelaar stopped eight of the nine shots he faced the rest of the way.
Asked about the winning goal, Dean said his message for Tegelaar is that “one game doesn’t make a career.”
“These are learning opportunities for a young goaltender,” Dean added. “It’s a chance for this young man to rebound, learn from it, and be a better goalie for it.”
Lardis finished the game with five points for the Bulldogs with a goal and four assists in the victory. Brown’s three-goal performance came in addition to Thomas assisting on three goals for Branford to give the Bulldogs top line 11 points in the game.
O’Brien added a goal and a pair of assists and Hamara also had a multi-point day with one of each for Brantford.
Leenders stopped 38 shots for the Bulldogs.
The Greyhounds now return home for seven straight games on home ice, beginning with a pair of games at the GFL Memorial Gardens this weekend that have playoff implications.
The team will host the Guelph Storm on Friday night before facing the Owen Sound Attack on Sunday afternoon.
The Storm and Attack are currently chasing the Greyhounds for the eighth and final playoff spot in the OHL’s Western Conference.
The Greyhounds hold a one-point lead over the Attack, who dropped a 4-1 decision to the Windsor Spitfires on Monday. Guelph pulled to within three points of the Greyhounds after picking up a 7-6 win at home over the Sudbury Wolves on Monday.
Owen Sound has a game in hand on the Greyhounds while the Storm have three in hand.
Monday’s loss drops the Greyhounds record to 21-32-1-1 on the season.
With the win, Brantford improves to 34-16-5-0.