Crucial saves early on and a strong performance in goal throughout helped the Soo Greyhounds increase their lead atop the Ontario Hockey League’s West Division on Wednesday night.
Goaltender Charlie Schenkel was masterful as the Greyhounds snapped a 10-game winning streak by the Saginaw Spirit Wednesday in Saginaw.
A late goal by Bryce McConnell-Barker broke a 3-3 tie and gave the Greyhounds a 4-3 victory over the Spirit at the Down Event Center, but the talk following the game was of the performance by Schenkel.
“Fantastic tonight,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said of the Greyhounds netminder.
“He gives us an opportunity to stay in that hockey game,” Dean also said.
Dean also called the start by Schenkel “probably his most complete sixty.”
McConnell-Barker called Schenkel “one of the main reasons we won that game.”
Forward Brenden Sirizzotti added that it was “lights out his best performance.”
Asked about the early stages of the game, Schenkel said it came down to wanting to give his team a chance to win.
“It was a long bus trip so I wanted to give the boys a jump and do everything I can to get us the win,” Schenkel said.
Schenkel also credited Greyhounds goaltending coach Mark Visentin for his play of late.
“Things are starting to click and it’s exciting,” Schenkel said.
Asked about Schenkel’s play early in the game, Sirizzotti said it gave the team “that energy boost that we needed.”
“It let us come out the next period knowing that Schenky is there for us and he’s going to battle so we went to war for him,” Sirizzotti added.
“That’s what elite goaltenders can do for you is drag you out of that slow start,” Dean said of Schenkel’s play early in the game.
“His first ten to twelve minutes were exceptional,” Dean added.
For McConnell-Barker, the Greyhounds ability to grind out a win in a game where they didn’t play their best early was a positive.
“We had a little bit of bus legs,” McConnell-Barker said. “We came out a bit slow in the first two periods, but it shows a lot how we weren’t feeling our greatest and we didn’t have our best game but came out with the two points against a really strong team.”
For the Spirit, the game was one that saw a number of positives, but a regular issue for the team proved costly.
“We played a hell of a game. We did a lot of good things,” Spirit coach Chris Lazary said following the game on the Spirit radio broadcast. “We were the better team, but it’s like an epidemic for us letting guys behind us. We just told our team, hopefully this is the game, if we want to take a positive out of it, stops that.”
The specific goal in question was the game-winner by the Greyhounds, in which McConnell-Barker put the visitors ahead late in the game on a 3-on-1.
“If we want to do what we want to do, we have to get it out of our game,” Lazary said.
After Saginaw pressured the Greyhounds early, the visitors opened the scoring with 3:45 to go in the opening period as Sirizzotti beat Spirit goaltender Andrew Oke from the left of the goal after taking a short pass from Owen Allard in the slot.
The Greyhounds made it a 2-0 game when Alex Kostov beat Oke from the slot glove side after taking a pass from Travis Hayes 2:25 into the period. Hayes moved the puck into the Spirit zone after Saginaw’s Ethan Hay turned the puck over in the neutral zone.
Saginaw pulled to within one on the power play at 12:12 as Zayne Parekh got the puck off a faceoff win by Matyas Sapovaliv and beat Greyhounds starter Charlie Schenkel high glove side.
Saginaw then tied the game at two after Joey Willis scored on a rebound after a point shot by Parekh was stopped by Schenkel at 15:38.
The Greyhounds took a 3-2 lead when McConnell-Barker beat Oke 5-hole on a breakaway after a neutral zone turnover by the Spirit 2:56 into the third period.
Saginaw made it a 3-3 game at 15:26 when Calem Mangone beat Schenkel from in close after Schenkel made a pair of saves initially on Mangone and Parekh on the play.
The Greyhounds took the lead for good just 1:11 later as McConnell-Barker beat Oke glove side from the left circle on a 3-on-1.
“It was kind of a blur,” McConnell-Barker said of the winner. “The puck kind of squirted out to me and I gave it to (Sirizzotti) on a quick give-and-go and saw the glove side and I put it there.”
In addition to the two-goal night from McConnell-Barker, Sirizzotti had a goal and an assist for the Greyhounds in the win.
Schenkel made 35 saves.
Oke stopped 17 shots for the Spirit in the loss.
Offensively, Parekh was in on all three Saginaw goals with a goal and two assists. Willis added one of each for the home team.
The two teams will meet again on Friday night in Sault Ste. Marie in the second game of a home-and-home between the clubs.
Puck drop at the GFL Memorial Gardens is 7:07 p.m.
For the Greyhounds, the win improves their record to 16-7-2-0 on the season and moves the team five points ahead of the Spirit in the OHL’s West Division.
The Spirit fall to 14-8-0-1 with the loss and have a pair of games in hand on the Greyhounds heading into the weekend.
Both teams are slated to play Saturday night as well with the Greyhounds hosting the Barrie Colts and the Spirit returning home to host the London Knights.
The Greyhounds lost forward Jordan D’Intino to injury in the opening period after the overage forward went hard into the end boards.
Dean said after Wednesday’s game that the veteran forward was going to be checked by a doctor after the Greyhounds crossed the border on the trip home.