Facing their third game in as many nights and being in the midst of a battle for an Ontario Hockey League playoff spot, the Soo Greyhounds earned some praise from coach John Dean.
After jumping out to a lead through 20 minutes, the Greyhounds overcame a second period that wasn’t their best and held on for an important victory over the Flint Firebirds at the Dort Financial Center.
A pair of goals in the final 10 minutes of regulation time sealed a 6-3 win for the Greyhounds and helped the team maintain hold of one of the final two playoff spots in the OHL’s Western Conference.
“It’s tough to describe,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said when asked about the character of his team in the game.
“To put the effort they put in tonight three games into a week is absolutely incredible,” Dean added. “Especially with the magnitude of the game. This is the proudest I’ve been of this hockey club in a long time.”
Asked about holding onto the lead in the third period, Dean referenced a moment involving goaltender Nolan Lalonde after Flint had made it a 4-3 game early in the period.
“Nolan came over (to the bench) after the third goal in the first opportunity he had to get to the bench, he came over and told everyone to take a breath, that the third goal is on him and that it’s not going to happen again,” Dean said. “We were dominant from that point forward.”
Dean added that the interaction was “a show of character from Nolan.”
“And what a response from his teammates to pick him up,” Dean added.
“We stuck together,” veteran forward Marco Mignosa said of the third period. “The maturity of our group has come a long way with how we handle these situations. The bench was really calm, calmer than earlier in the year. The boys played for each other and backed it up pretty well.”
Mignosa scored an insurance goal in the third period to give the Greyhounds a 5-3 lead at the time and agreed it was one of his biggest goals of the season.
“It feels good, but the win feels better,” Mignosa said.
Dean called Mignosa the “most underrated player in the league.”
“We continue to lean on him for those big moments and he relishes them,” Dean added.
Flint coach Paul Flache said the Greyhounds “outperformed us.”
“We claw back in the second, but didn’t have a great first,” Flache said in an interview with the Firebirds Hockey Network. “At the end of the day, we have to find a way to get them to be more competitive in the first period. We didn’t have a good start in Owen Sound (on Wednesday) and that can’t be a trend. We had a good second period, but then we give it away with a late goal. We don’t want to get the puck in deep and then we lose our coverage. It all starts with managing the puck.”
“Full credit to (the Greyhounds). They play three games in three nights, and they battled,” Flache added.
Dean said he felt the Greyhounds were “phenomenal” in the opening period before saying that the second period was “a roller coaster that we did not enjoy being on.”
“We felt like we got away from it a little bit and Flint had a nice push,” Dean said. “The third period was incredible. The push after their third goal was outstanding.”
Dean agreed that he felt the Greyhounds overcame fatigue in the game, which was the Sault’s third game in as many nights.
“I’m happy it happened in the second period,” Dean said of fatigue playing a factor, adding that the Greyhounds reset after the period “was really good.”
The Greyhounds opened the scoring 35 seconds into the contest as Travis Hayes took a pass in the left faceoff circle from Brady Martin down low and beat Flint goaltender Nathan Day.
The visitors would make it a 2-0 game with 5:59 to go in the opening period when Mignosa beat Day from the bottom of the left faceoff circle on a one-timer off a cross-ice pass from Martin.
Flint cut into the Greyhounds lead 3:24 into the second period when Sam McCue beat Lalonde on a deflection of a shot from the left point by Matthew Mania on the power play.
The Greyhounds took a 3-1 lead when Hunter Solomon beat Day with a shot from the point after talking a pass from Noel Nordh at 15:28.
Flint again made it a one-goal game when McCue got his second of the night 1:59 later. McCue deflected a Jimmy Lombardi shot past Lalonde on the play to make it a 3-2 game.
With 11 seconds to go in the middle stanza, the Greyhounds regained the two-goal lead as Justin Cloutier beat Day on a one-timer of a pass by Nordh to give the visitors a 4-2 lead heading into the intermission.
Flint again cut the Greyhounds lead to one 2:33 into the third period as Max Anderson grabbed a turnover by the Sault defensively and took a shot that found its way through Lalonde to make it a 4-3 game.
With the teams playing 4-on-4, the Greyhounds took a 5-3 lead as Mignosa found some open ice in the slot, took a pass from Martin on the left wing and beat Day glove side at 11:41.
Brady R. Smith sealed the win with an empty net goal with 1:04 to go in regulation time.
In addition to Mignosa’s two-goal night, Hayes and Smith had a goal and an assist each while Martin and Nordh assisted on a pair of goals each.
Lalonde made 25 saves for the Sault.
“(Lalonde) was really good,” Dean said. “The first two goals were tips and those are really difficult. The third goal, he takes ownership of and then closes the door after. In the second period, we gave up a significant amount of chances against and that’s where he really shone.”
With McCue pacing the Firebirds offensively with his two power play goals, Mania assisted on a pair of Flint goals.
Day stopped 30 shots in the loss.
The Greyhounds are slated to return to action on Wednesday night in Sudbury against the Wolves for their final road game of the regular season. The team will then return home for games on Friday night against Saginaw and Sunday afternoon against the Sarnia Sting.
With the win, the Greyhounds improve to 26-35-2-2 on the season and leapfrog the Owen Sound Attack into seventh in the OHL’s Western Conference.
The Attack were in action on Saturday night as well, dropping a 3-2 decision at home to the Kitchener Rangers.
Owen Sound now sits tied with Sarnia for the eighth and final playoff spot in the conference after the Sting dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to the Barrie Colts in Barrie on Saturday.
The Greyhounds, Attack, and Sting have all played 65 games.
In addition to the game against the Greyhounds to wrap up the regular season play; Sarnia’s other remaining games include a road game on March 20 against the Windsor Spitfires and a home game the following night against Flint.
Owen Sound’s remaining schedule has the Attack facing Barrie in Barrie on March 20, the Rangers on March 21 in Kitchener before wrapping up the regular season on March 22 with a home game against the Guelph Storm.
With the loss, Flint falls to 28-31-2-3.