They felt it was one of their best games of the season.
They fell behind in the opening period, but the Soo Greyhounds rebounded from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits to pick up a 6-3 Ontario Hockey League win over the London Knights on Sunday afternoon at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
The Greyhounds scored five unanswered goals, including two on the power play and one shorthanded, en route to the win.
Overage forward Mark Duarte called it “a big turning point for our team, specifically after giving up a late power play goal that forced overtime in a 6-5 loss in Flint on Friday night.
“After that game in Flint, we learned our lesson in that we have to play that full 60,” Duarte said. “We came out and did what we had to do to win this game. We stuck to it the whole game, when we were down, when we were up. We came together as a team.”
Greyhounds coach John Dean said the win will be one the team will look to going forward.
“This is a great game for us to look back to and realize that we can beat any team in the league, and we have to stop giving so much respect to other teams and just go enjoy and play,” Dean said.
Duarte added that he felt the team bounced back well from a shorthanded goal by the Knights early in the game as well and credited the Greyhounds penalty kill in the victory, which held London off the scoresheet in five-man advantage situations.
“We really stepped as a team there (on the penalty kill),” Duarte said.
“Special teams in general were fantastic,” Dean added, saying there was “no doubt” that killing off a London two-man advantage late in the second period created a momentum shift in the game.
Knights assistant coach Dylan Hunter agreed that the five-on-three played a role in the momentum of the game and gave the Greyhounds a boost.
As a team that has struggled at times in the third period of tight games this season, Dean said he was impressed with the Greyhounds play in the third period Sunday.
“We looked confident,” Dean said. “There wasn’t a lot of management on the staff side. Guys were managing each other. There was a lot of talk from Duarte. A lot of talk from Bryce McConnell-Barker. A lot of talk from (Kalvyn) Watson. Those guys took care of business in the third period.”
Hunter said following the game that the team made some uncharacteristic mistakes in the loss, which was just their third since the beginning of November.
“We were a little bit slow, not body-wise but mentally,” Hunter said. “We made some mistakes that we usually don’t make. We gave them some good looks and put (Brett) Brochu in some bad spots.”
“They skated really well,” Hunter said of the Greyhounds. “They closed gaps really well and really pressured us on our power play that threw us for a loop.”
London opened the scoring when Max McCue beat Greyhounds goaltender Samuel Ivanov on a pass from Sean McGurn on a shorthanded 2-on-1 just under six minutes into the game.
The Knights proceeded to take a 2-0 lead when Oliver Bonk took a pass in the slot from Ruslan Gazizov in the left faceoff circle and beat Ivanov's stick side at 18:48.
On the next shift, Landen Hookey made it a 2-1 game when he converted a pass from Caeden Carlisle on the left wing that was redirected by Bryce McConnell-Barker before ending up on the stick of Hookey in close.
London took a 3-1 lead when Mathieu Paris took a pass in the slot from Jacob Julien in the left circle and beat Ivanov's stick side at 9:17. The goal came moments after Julien forced a turnover by Greyhounds defenceman Kirill Kudryavtsev.
Jordan D’Intino made it a one-goal game at 10:43 when he took a pass in the slot from Alex Kostov and beat Brochu stick side with the Greyhounds shorthanded.
D’Intino tied the game with his second of the day at 14:18 when he redirected a pass in close from Duarte on the power play.
Duarte gave the Greyhounds a 4-3 lead in the third when he beat Brochu from the right faceoff circle short on a pass from Watson to the left of the London goal at 6:25.
Watson then made it a 5-3 game at 13:59 when he scored into an open net after beating Brochu to a loose puck.
McConnell-Barker added to the lead with an empty net goal with 2:50 to go.
McConnell-Barker finished the day with a goal and three assists for the Greyhounds in the victory.
In addition to the two-goal day from D’Intino, Duarte and Watson had a goal and an assist each and Kudryavtsev had a pair of helpers.
Ivanov stopped 21 shots.
“He made a lot of big saves,” Dean said. “They’re such a good team off the rush where they find late guys off the rush. He read their rush really well and made some tough saves look easy. We challenged Sammy to step up for us, and he was very vocal with his teammates between the second and third periods, and he delivered a really good game for us.”
McGurn had a pair of assists for the Knights, while Brochu stopped 28 shots.
Heading on the road for three games, Dean said the challenge for the Greyhounds will be “how to replicate these home games on the road.”
The team will open up the trip Thursday night in North Bay before travelling to Barrie to take on the Colts on Saturday and wrapping up the trip Sunday afternoon in Sudbury.
The Greyhounds will take a 12-14-7-4 record into the trip. The team is currently seventh in the OHL’s Western Conference, sitting tied with the Guelph Storm at 35 points though the Greyhounds have a game in hand.
The two teams are three points ahead of the ninth-seeded Kitchener Rangers and five back of the Owen Sound Attack.
London falls to 26-9-1-0 with the loss.
News and notes: With the OHL trade deadline at noon on Tuesday, and 24 hours earlier for overage players, major deals have continued to roll in over the past few days.
On Saturday, the Hamilton Bulldogs and Mississauga Steelheads were busy unloading, while the Ottawa 67’s, Sarnia Sting, and Peterborough Petes added what they hope will be key pieces for a playoff run.
The Bulldogs dealt overage forward Avery Hayes and overage defenceman Gavin White to the Peterborough Petes in exchange for Nick Lardis, Sahil Panwar, a third-round pick in 2023 (originally Flint’s) and a conditional sixth-round pick in 2026.
Hamilton also dealt high-scoring forward Logan Morrison to the Ottawa 67’s in exchange for a second-round draft pick in 2023 (originally Guelph’s), a fourth-round pick in 2023, a third-round pick in 2024, a fourth-round pick in 2024, a second-round pick in 2026, and a third-round pick in 2026.
The Petes weren’t done after acquiring With and Hayes. The team also dealt for Owen Beck in a trade with the Mississauga Steelheads. In return, Mississauga gets Jack Van Volsen, Justin DeZoete, a second-round draft pick in 2025, a second-round pick in 2025 (originally Erie’s), a third-round pick in 2025, and a fourth-round pick in 2026.
Mississauga also dealt Ethan Del Mastro and Luca Del Bel Belluz to the Sarnia Sting in what’s been reported by the OHL as separate deals. In return, the Steelheads get Porter Martone and a second-round draft pick in 2023 (originally Flint’s) for Del Mastro and Angus MacDonnell, a fourth-round draft pick in 2025 (originally London’s), and a fourth-round draft pick in 2026 for Del Bel Belluz.
In other roster news, the Sudbury Wolves added overage goaltender Kevyn Brassard off waivers from the Drummondville Voltigeurs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Saturday.