Kirill thrills in overtime as Greyhounds overcome deficit in win

After a start to the season that has seen the team lose some games they felt they played well enough to win, Saturday night was the opposite for the Soo Greyhounds.

Among the Ontario Hockey League’s top scoring teams, the Greyhounds came back from an early deficit and ultimately picked up a 6-5 overtime victory Saturday against the Flint Firebirds.

It was a game in which coach John Dean felt was one in which the hockey gods were giving a game back to them.

“We laid an egg tonight,” Dean said. “We found a way to win, which is great. We play a really aggressive style of hockey without the puck and if one or two guys are passengers on a line or the D core, it can really get ugly on us.”

“We were late to everything on forecheck,” Dean added. “We weren’t moving our feet when we did have the puck on our stick, and they did a really good job transitioning against us because we were late.”

After falling behind 3-0 through 20 minutes, the Greyhounds scored five times in the second period to grab a 5-4 lead before Flint forced overtime with a goal in the final period.

Dean called it “impressive” that the team scored five times in the middle stanza after falling behind 3-0 through 20 minutes.

“I’m not taking that away from the guys,” Dean said. “It’s pretty special. We have a very talented group that, when opportunity strikes, we can do that.”

Defenceman Kirill Kudryavtsev, who had the overtime winner, said the game had plenty of emotional highs and lows.

“It was a tough game,” Kudryavtsev said. “We were winning at some point; we were losing at some point. Winning that game is huge for us.”

Flint coach Paul Flache said the Firebirds got away from their gameplan and mismanaged the puck at times after taking the lead.

“A good first period should have been set up for a win for sure,” Flache said in an interview with the Firebirds Hockey Network. “We got away from our gameplan. Credit to them. They came at us in the second period. A great job battling back in the third to get the point.”

Flint opened the scoring as Coulson Pitre went to the net and took a pass from Nolan Dann before beating Greyhounds starter Landon Miller at 4:27. The goal came after a Greyhounds turnover in the Flint zone.

On the next shift, Jeremy Martin broke down the right wing and took a pass from Nathan Aspinall. Martin proceeded to skate into the right faceoff circle and beat Landon Miller high stick side just 34 seconds later.

Gavin Hayes made it a 3-0 game at 11:01 as he deflected a shot by Zacharie Giroux from the left faceoff circle on the power play. Miller’s night was over shortly thereafter as he made way for Charlie Schenkel between the pipes for the Greyhounds.

The Greyhounds got on the board in the second period as Brenden Sirizzotti skated into the Flint zone and beat Flint goaltender Jacob Brown from the left circle short side 3:33 into the period.

On the power play, the Greyhounds pulled to within one as Arttu Karki beat Brown with a one-timer from the bottom of the right faceoff circle on a pass from Kirill Kudryavtsev at 6:18.

Rookie blueliner Brodie McConnell-Barker then tied the game with his first OHL goal on a three-way passing play started by his older brother Bryce. The younger McConnell-Barker went to the net and redirected a pass from Jordan D’Intino past Brown to make it a 3-3 game at 15:50.

Flint retook the lead 2:29 later when Matthew Virgilio turned the puck over in the Greyhounds zone and the puck found its way to Martin in tight who proceeded to beat Schenkel.

D’Intino proceeded to tie the game on a penalty shot 45 seconds after the Martin goal. D’Intino was taken down on a breakaway by Flint’s Tristan Bertucci and then beat Brown with a backhand to the glove side to tie the game at four.

The Greyhounds took the lead into the dressing room through two periods when Karki beat Brown with a sharp angle shot from the bottom of the right faceoff circle with 1.3 seconds to go in the period.

Flint tied the game at five in the third period when Braeden Kressler deflected a shot from the high slot by Bertucci past Schenkel at 15:50, a goal that would ultimately force the extra frame.

Just 67 seconds into the extra frame, Kudryavtsev ended it for the Greyhounds as he skated the puck from inside the Greyhounds zone, past a pair of Flint defenders just inside the Firebirds blueline and then beat Brown high stick side to give the Greyhounds the win.

“I came out with the puck, hopefully getting it in the zone and getting a change, (but) seen an opening and just jumped in and had a breakaway. I heard Brenden Sirizzotti screaming that we had a two-on-one, but I decided to shoot.”

Asked how he felt about the goal, Kudryavtsev replied “I can’t believe I just scored it.”

Dean called Kudryavtsev’s overtime winner “one of the most beautiful goals I’ve ever seen.”

“It was absolutely incredible,” Dean added. “Kirill’s been focused this year on being a guy that can finish. That’s two big goals two games in a row, but this one’s obviously very special on a tough night for us. A leader like him, he wants to be relied on and was he ever tonight. What a beautiful goal.”

Kudryavtsev finished the night with a goal and two assists for the Greyhounds in the victory.

In addition to the two-point night for Karki, D’Intino also had a pair of points with a goal and an assist.

After entering the game in relief of Miller, Schenkel stopped 21 of 23 shots for the Greyhounds. Miller stopped eight of 11 before being pulled.

Dean said the decision to make the goaltending change was one in which the coaching staff felt it “might give us a little bit of a lift.”

“We left Millsy out to dry,” Dean said. “There’s no doubt about that. It was less a Millsy decision and more a team decision to try to light a fire under our belly.”

Martin (two goals) and Jimmy Lombardi (two assists) were the lone players to grab multiple points for the Firebirds in the loss.

Brown made 28 saves for Flint.

The Greyhounds now return home for a pair of games next weekend against the Windsor Spitfires. The teams are slated to meet at the GFL Memorial Gardens on Nov. 4 in a 7:07 p.m. puck drop before a 2:07 p.m. start on Nov. 5.

Prior to the Nov. 4 game, the Greyhounds will officially retire Joe Thornton’s No. 19 in a ceremony. Earlier in the day on Saturday, Thornton officially announced his retirement from the NHL in a social media post.

🚨 Important Shirtless Jumbo Message 🚨 pic.twitter.com/ZQJxCSr8zm

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) October 28, 2023

With the victory on Saturday night, the Greyhounds improve to 9-5-0-0 on the season while the Firebirds fall to 4-6-1-0.