They knew the importance of it heading in.
Feeling that they haven’t been rewarded of late in some games, the Soo Greyhounds grabbed some crucial points on Saturday night as they battle for positioning in the Ontario Hockey League’s Western Conference standings.
The Greyhounds scored three unanswered goals en route to a 3-1 victory over the Sarnia Sting Saturday at Sarnia’s Progressive Auto Sales Arena.
“It’s rewarding,” said forward Brady Martin. “It feels a lot better too when you work this hard and haven’t got paid and you finally get paid. It means a lot more.”
“We wanted to get that win,” added forward Marco Mignosa. “We needed it pretty bad. It’s definitely great to get that off our shoulders.”
Rookie forward Brady R. Smith called the win “massive.”
With holding leads having been an issue for the team at times, Dean said Sarnia’s ability to force turnovers when their opponents mismanage the puck could have made things difficult for the Greyhounds
“We managed the puck very well in the third period,” Dean said. “We made good, sound choices.”
“We protected a two-goal lead in a very good way in the third period tonight,” Dean added.
“We just said between periods that we had to stick with it and good things will happen and they did,” Martin said. “(Sarnia) didn’t score and we just shut them down in the third period.”
Asked what the keys to the win were, Dean said there wasn’t one specific detail that led to the win.
“I liked the way we managed the puck for the most part with the exception of sporadically through the first period,” Dean said. “I just like the way guys dug in.”
“All 20 guys just refused to lose tonight,” Dean added.
Dean also talked about an adjustment made after the first period that played a role in the game as well.
“Brendan Taylor made an adjustment between the first and second period for the guys and we talked about strategy to exit our zone, which our guys really bought into and it resulted in two major goals for us,” Dean said. “You could see the look on the faces of the guys on the bench. When things work like that, it’s very contagious and guys buy in.”
Martin called the Greyhounds compete and work ethic most impressive in the game.
Mignosa also talked about the Greyhounds “full consistent effort” as a difference in the game.
After a scoreless opening period, Sarnia got on the board first in the second period as Alessandro Di Iorio entered the Sault zone and took a short pass from Matthew Manza before beating Greyhounds goaltender Landon Miller from the top of the left faceoff circle at 3:16.
The Greyhounds tied the game at 9:23 as Mignosa beat Sting goaltender Nick Surzycia with a shot from the left side of the slot after taking a pass from Martin in the right circle on a 2-on-1.
The visitors wasted little time taking the lead in the game as the Greyhounds made it a 2-1 game on the next shift. Brady R. Smith took a feed in the right circle from Brady T. Smith and beat Surzycia 61 seconds later to give the Greyhounds the lead for good.
Mignosa capped off the scoring with a shorthanded marker as he beat Surzycia alone in close following a second effort from Martin in the corner to poke a loose puck into open ice for Mignosa at 12:09.
Mignosa and Martin finished the night with two points each to pace the Greyhounds offensively.
Miller made 29 saves for the Sault.
Dean said Miller “made the easy saves look very easy” in the game.
“What I care about is how he manages the game in front of him and make sure there’s not a lot of chaos in front of his net, especially with a young team playing in front of him, you have to control rebounds and you have to control the area around you,” Dean said. “He did a great job of that.”
At the other end, Surzycia stopped 22 shots for the Sting.
The Greyhounds will wrap up the weekend with a holiday Monday game on the road in Brantford against the Bulldogs before returning home for a stretch that will see the team play seven straight games at home.
With Saturday’s victory, the Greyhounds improve to 21-31-1-1 and pull one point ahead of the Owen Sound Attack for the eighth and final playoff spot in the OHL’s Western Conference after the Attack dropped an overtime decision against the Erie Otters on Saturday.
The Attack have a game in hand on the Greyhounds and the teams are slated to face each other next weekend in the Sault.
The Greyhounds also pull to within three points of the Sting for seventh in the conference.
The Sting fall to 18-24-4-7 with Saturday’s result but have a game in hand on the Greyhounds as well.
The Greyhounds and Sting are scheduled to meet two more times, once in each city, before the end of the regular season.