Power play lacks power at critical time for Greyhounds

On a night when the teams they’re battling with near the top of the Ontario Hockey League standings picked up wins, the Soo Greyhounds couldn’t keep pace.

A strong performance in the opposition net and an inability to capitalize on the power play at a critical time left the Soo Greyhounds on the wrong end of a 5-1 Ontario Hockey League decision on Saturday night at the GFL Memorial Gardens against the Sudbury Wolves.

With the score 2-1 in the late stages of the second period, Wolves forward David Goyette took a double minor for high sticking and the Greyhounds couldn’t capitalize. The Wolves then extended the lead early in the third period and didn’t look back.

“The second period power play, the four-minute (man advantage) was just terrible,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said. “We looked tentative, nervous, completely off script.”

Dean called special teams “the story of the game” for the Greyhounds.

Dean said that, while he was happy with the way the Greyhounds played on the man advantage in the third period, “when you don’t provide a full sixty minutes and you give a team like that, who’s got offensive power, an opportunity to win a game, they did it.”

Dean also said that through the first two periods, “we didn’t make the GFL a tough place to play.”

For the Wolves, goaltender Marcus Vandenberg earned the praise of his coach following the win.

“He’s everything we wanted him to be tonight,” Sudbury coach Ken MacKenzie said of Vandenberg. “It’s his third game in three nights as well as our team and we needed him to help us out tonight.”

“It’s the first game in a long time where we’ve been outshot and won a hockey game,” MacKenzie also said. “He was real good. He was on top of his game, no question. Without him, even with the five goals, it could have been a different story.”

MacKenzie also said that a sequence in the third period in which Vandenberg stopped Greyhounds forward Justin Cloutier on a breakaway and the Wolves went back the other way and scored was a crucial part of the game.

“If you’re looking for a turning point in the game, that was it,” MacKenzie said.

Dean called it “a huge goal.”

“We could have scored two or three on that penalty kill, which is par for the course for our penalty kill,” Dean added.

Sudbury opened the scoring as Nathan Villeneuve deflected a point shot from Matthew Mania past Greyhounds goaltender Landon Miller on the power play 5:30 into the contest.

The Wolves made it a 2-0 game as Kocha Delic slated down the left wing and cut to the net before beating Miller high stick side from in tight at 14:59.

The Greyhounds made it a one-goal game just under three minutes later as Marco Mignosa deflected a pass at the edge of the crease from Brenden Sirizzotti in the left circle on the power play.

After a scoreless second period, Sudbury made it a 3-1 game as Kieron Walton skated down the right wing and beat Miller from the faceoff circle on the power play at 5:20. The goal moments after Vandenburg thwarted Cloutier on a shorthanded breakaway.

Quentin Musty made it 4-1 with an empty net goal on the power play with 46 seconds to go.

Mania capped off the scoring with two seconds to go, beating Miller after taking a pass from Lucas Signoretti below the goalline.

Vandenberg finished the night with 33 saves in the win while Mania and Walton added a goal and an assist each for the Wolves.

Miller made 17 saves for the Greyhounds.

With the loss, the Greyhounds fall to 23-9-2-1 on the season.

The team sits atop the OHL’s West Division standings with a six-point lead over the Saginaw Spirit, who have three games in hand and gained two points on the Greyhounds thanks to a 5-4 overtime win over the Windsor Spitfires Saturday night.

The Spirit are in the Sault to take on the Greyhounds on Sunday afternoon in a 2:07 puck drop at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

The Greyhounds also fall three points behind the Kitchener Rangers for top spot in the Western Conference after the latter picked up a win over Owen Sound on Saturday night. The Greyhounds have a game in hand on the Rangers.

Asked about forward Bryce McConnell-Barker, who has been out since taking a hit from London Knights forward Sawyer Boulton on Dec. 10, Dean said the Greyhounds captain won’t be in the lineup on Sunday afternoon but is progressing and there’s a possibility he could return to the lineup on the road on Wednesday night.

“I’d be really surprised if we don’t see him on Wednesday, but I can’t guarantee that, nor will I ever push that,” Dean said.

With the win, the Wolves improve to 18-11-3-2 and move one point ahead of the Mississauga Steelheads for top spot in the Central Division.

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