There's no question that it was weighing on their minds.
A streak of eight loses in shootout and overtime games will do that.
On Friday night, the streak ended and it actually did so pretty quickly.
A goal by Kirill Kudryavtsev 10 seconds into overtime gave the Soo Greyhounds a 4-3 Ontario Hockey League victory over the Saginaw Spirit Friday at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
“It obviously feels unreal,” said overage forward Kalvyn Watson, who finished the night with four points for the Greyhounds. “Especially playing one of the better teams in the league. They were on a nine-game heater and tonight would have been their tenth (consecutive win). For us to get our first overtime win and crack that streak for them is huge.”
Greyhounds coach John Dean said getting the win in overtime did provide a sense of relief for the players.
“They have to believe they can execute in those games and find success in those games, and you can only do it by experiencing it,” Dean said.
Dean called Friday’s win “very important” following a 10-6 loss in Hamilton against the Bulldogs last Sunday.
“We just gave up 10 (goals) the last game we played. We let a team score a goal with a minute and a half to go and it seemed like the broken record was happening and our guys show so much resilience,” Dean said. “I’m just so happy for these guys. They deserve it.”
Saginaw coach Chris Lazary said the Greyhounds did to them Friday what the Spirit did to the Sault in Saginaw earlier this year.
“We did it to them last time and they flipped the script on us,” Lazary said.
“I liked our game, Lazary also said. “We made one little mistake, and they got momentum and then it was hard for us to get it back. We could have crushed them in the second period. We couldn’t find the net and (Samuel) Ivanov did a good job and made some big saves. That would have been the game there.”
Saginaw opened the scoring as Hunter Haight beat Greyhounds goaltender Samuel Ivanov from the right faceoff circle short side at 15:57 of the opening period.
The Greyhounds thought they tied the game at one in the second period on a scramble in tight, but a lengthy review led to the goal being waved off.
Saginaw made it a 2-0 game at 2:59 of the third period when Sebastian Gervais scored on a rebound from the left faceoff circle after Ivanov stopped Nic Sima from the right circle initially.
The Greyhounds got on the board 4:01 later when Kalvyn Watson broke down the right wing on a break and beat Saginaw goaltender Tristan Lennox 5-hole to cut the Spirit lead to 2-1.
Watson proceeded to tie the game at two for the Greyhounds 66 seconds later as he found himself in the slot where he converted a pass from Landen Hookey
The Spirit took a 3-2 lead with 1:39 to go in regulation as Zayne Parekh took a pass from Michael Misa and broke in on Ivanov before putting a backhand past the Sault netminder.
Just 39 seconds later, Watson got his third of the night as he potted a rebound to the left of the Saginaw goal to tie the game at three and force overtime.
On the OT winner, the Greyhounds skated into the Saginaw zone off the opening faceoff and Kudryavtsev took a shot that Watson appeared to score on a rebound in tight to give the home side the victory.
Watson finished the night with three goals and an assist for the Greyhounds in the win.
“The storyline for sure is that Kalvyn Watson put this team on his shoulders,” Dean said. “You could almost tell in overtime that he was going to make a little play there through their defenceman and score.”
McConnell-Barker assisted on a pair of goals for the Greyhounds while Ivanov made 32 saves.
“Sammy was fantastic,” Dean said. “What a bounce-back for him too. We couldn’t pull him in Hamilton because of our injury situation and we leave that poor kid out to dry and he gives us a game like this. That shows a lot of character.”
Haight had a goal and an assist for the Spirit while Misa assisted on a pair of goals.
Lennox stopped 34 shots for Saginaw.
In roster news, the Greyhounds have reassigned rookie forward Dustin Good. The 17-year-old will join the Jr. B Elmira Sugar Kings.
Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis said Friday the decision was made to get Good some additional ice time. The young forward got into three games this season with the Greyhounds.
Raftis also said Friday that goaltender Charlie Schenkel, who was injured in warmup prior to Sunday’s game in Hamilton, will be out until after the Christmas break. Landon Miller has rejoined the team after starting the season with the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Soo Thunderbirds.
Friday marked Saginaw’s first game since acquiring Haight from the Barrie Colts in exchange for five draft picks.
Lazary called Haight “a top ten talent in the league.”