With the Soo Greyhounds barely treading water in the Ontario Hockey League playoff race, the team gathered a big victory on Wednesday night to remain afloat.
If a victory wasn't needed badly enough to end a five-game winless streak, the Greyhounds desperately needed a win before heading out on a four-game road swing.
Despite facing another tough goaltender in Paul Drew, the Greyhounds remained persistent and managed to solve the netminder twice in the third period to secure a 4-1 win over the Plymouth Whalers in front of 2,553 fans at Memorial Gardens.
With the win, the Greyhounds improve to 22-25-3-1 to move three points ahead of the Windsor Spitfires, who have four games in hand, for eighth place in the Western Conference and three points behind the Erie Otters and Owen Sound Attack for sixth position.
"We have been working hard the last couple of weeks and not getting the breaks but we got some today and it was a great effort by everybody and that's what we need to win," said Greyhounds head coach Marty Abrams.
"I think the guys were getting tired of not getting any rewards from hard work and even when they scored their first goal there was no quit on the bench and that is a big improvement over the last couple of games."
The Greyhounds jumped out to a flying start but the Plymouth Whalers found the scoreboard first. After Drew made a big save on Tyler Kennedy, the Whalers turned up ice and John Mitchell finished the rush by snapping the puck over the right shoulder of Greyhound goaltender Kevin Druce for the 1-0 lead just 3:05 into the contest.
The Greyhounds answered back less than five minutes later on the power play when Scott Dobben converted a cross-ice pass from Jeff Carter to tie the score at 1-1.
After the teams played to a scoreless second period, the Greyhounds took control of the game late in the final period.
Despite some terrific saves by Drew throughout the game, the Greyhounds kept buzzing in the Plymouth zone and were finally rewarded with 6:54 remaining when Kennedy beat Drew with a shot just seconds after ringing another chance off the post.
The Greyhounds continued to press and Reg Thomas netted his first as a Greyhound, beating Drew through the five-hole, before Carter sealed the win with an empty net goal in the dying seconds.
The Greyhounds hit four posts in the game while Kennedy had numerous chances on Drew before finally sneaking the game winner past.
"(Kennedy) plays very well against Plymouth in general but he had some good jump tonight. We have had a couple of days in practise where we have been easy on them, getting them rested for tonight and maybe that paid off," said Abrams.
Jordan Smith had a solid game defensively for the Hounds and also contributed two assists offensively.
The Greyhounds turned in a superb defensive effort and held the Plymouth snipers off the board with tight checking while limiting the Whalers to only 24 shots on goal. The checking line of Matt Puntureri, Thomas and either Aaron Lewicki or Brett Connolly, carried the bulk of the load in shutting down Plymouth's offensive weapons.
"Those guys did a great job on the (Ryan) Ramsay line. In the third period, I thought Connolly stepped in for Lewicki and did a tremendous job and made a big play on Thomas' goal. These guys don't get the credit they deserve and they were outstanding tonight. We need that supporting cast and we got it," said Abrams.
Druce was solid when called upon and made his best stop in the second period with a quick kick save on Ramsay, the Whalers leading scorer.
"The interesting thing is that we are fighting for our lives for the playoffs and they have the same amount of wins as we do and they are looking at maybe a division championship which seeds them second overall," said Abrams. "That's how close this is. We have the same amount of wins as Plymouth and we're fighting for our lives."
The Greyhounds hit Highway 17 East on Friday for a match-up in Sudbury against the Wolves at 7:30 p.m. The team returns home before heading out on a three-game West Division swing beginning February 5th in Windsor.
In the only other OHL contest on Wednesday night, Danny McDonald scored the game's only goal and Dayne Davis made 27 saves for the shutout as the Kingston Frontenacs beat the Belleville Bulls 1-0.