With the relief of an overtime win on Friday night behind them, following it up with a good effort the next game was critical.
For the Soo Greyhounds, that’s exactly what they got on Sunday afternoon.
After breaking a 1-1 tie with a pair of goals in the second period, the Greyhounds skated to a 5-3 Ontario Hockey League win Sunday against the Owen Sound Attack at the GFL Memorial Gardens, giving the team consecutive victories for the first time this season.
“We haven’t put two games together like that all year,” said Greyhounds coach John Dean.
Dean added that the back-to-back wins “really encourages belief in the room.”
Asked what the significance of the weekend wins was for the team, Dean said it provides “a belief inside the room.”
“That’s probably the most important (thing),” Dean added. “With an inexperienced group, you can’t teach confidence; you have to experience it. For us to know off two pretty good teams, that’s ultimately what we’ll get out of it is some more confidence and swagger.”
Dean was especially pleased with the play of his team in the second period of Sunday’s contest.
“I liked our second period and how on top of pucks we were,” Dean said. “We did a really good job of making sure they didn’t have a lot of time and space, especially coming out of their end. Generally, they’re a very good team at bumping pucks out and getting out of stressful situations, and we put them in a lot of stress and a lot of pressure inside their zone.”
“We were all over pucks (in the game),” added forward Ethan Montroy. “In the second period, we outplayed them the whole period and then we were feeling good. This was a big win for us.”
The Greyhounds also held a high-scoring Owen Sound team off the scoresheet on eight power play opportunities Sunday.
“The most exciting part was watching our guys block shots,” Dean said.
Dean added that, late in the game, he felt the Greyhounds were “too passive,” which led to the need to block more shots, but the willingness to do so was positive.
“You can’t teach that,” Dean said. “They’re doing that for each other.”
Owen Sound coach Greg Walters declined to talk to the media following the game, with assistant coach Sean Teakle speaking to reporters instead.
“It’s three games in four days, and we looked a little tired,” Teakle said. “We looked lethargic, but it’s the Ontario Hockey League, and you have to find a way.”
Teakle agreed that, at times, the Greyhounds outworked the Attack in the game.
“Our execution wasn’t there,” Teakle also said. “You could see on little plays that we usually make in our sleep; we weren’t making.”
The Greyhounds opened the scoring 4:33 in as Ethan Montroy took a pass in the slot from Marco Mignosa and beat Owen Sound goaltender Nick Chenard's stick side.
Matthew Papais tied the game for the Attack with 4:50 to go in the opening period as he slipped past a pair of players in the slot before beating Greyhounds starter Samuel Ivanov's glove side from just inside the left circle.
Jordan D’Intino gave the Greyhounds a 2-1 lead midway through the second period when he took a shot pass in the slot from Mignosa below the goalline and beat Chenard's stick side.
Andrew Gibson made it 3-1 Greyhounds at 18:32 when he took a cross-ice pass from Bryce McConnell-Barker, hesitated, and beat Chenard with a shot from the right circle.
Ethan Burroughs made it a 3-2 game at 19:20 as he beat Ivanov with a shot glove side on a breakaway.
The Greyhounds restored the two-goal lead at 3:39 of the third period when Kirill Kudryavtsev took a turnover at the Sault blueline in on a breakaway and beat Chenard 5-hole with the home side shorthanded.
Kalvyn Watson made it 5-2 Greyhounds with 2:46 to go as he redirected a pass at the edge of the crease past Chenard on a feed from Bryce McConnell-Barker on the power play.
Montroy, who started the season with the Central Canada Hockey League’s Cornwall Colts before rejoining the Greyhounds prior to last weekend’s road trip, had a goal and an assist against the Attack.
“It looks like Monty is starting to find himself a bit,” Dean said. “I’m excited for him, and I’m excited for a little bit of chemistry on that line.”
The line included D’Intino at centre and Mignosa on the right wing with Montroy.
All three players had two-point nights for the Greyhounds, with D’Intino also picking up a goal and an assist while Mignosa assisted on a pair of goals.
Kudryavtsev also had a goal and an assist for the Sault.
McConnell-Barker assisted on a pair of goals.
Ivanov stopped 27 shots for the Greyhounds, who improved to 8-10-4-4 with the win.
Papais had a goal and an assist for Owen Sound.
Chenard stopped 25 shots.
The Greyhounds return to action on Thursday night in the opening game of a three-game road trip that begins in North Bay against the Battalion. The team will then face the Oshawa Generals in Oshawa on Friday night before facing Owen Sound in Owen Sound next Sunday afternoon.
With the two victories, Dean said the “discussion will be about consistency in play.”
“There are some areas that we need to clean up, but our focus is going to be to continue to knock off one thing at a time very constructively,” Dean added.
On the injury front for the Attack, veteran forward Kaleb Lawrence was a late scratch for the game. Teakle said the veteran forward missed the game with an upper-body injury.
With Sunday’s loss, the Attack falls to 16-8-1-1.