Three-game trip ends sourly for Greyhounds

A three-game road trip ended sourly for the Soo Greyhounds on Sunday afternoon.

In a game billed as a matchup between two of the top teams in the Ontario Hockey League’s Western Conference, it was the Kitchener Rangers who came out on top, picking up a 5-3 win over the Greyhounds at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.

Kitchener built up a 5-1 lead in the win and withstood a late push by the Greyhounds.

With the loss, the Greyhounds return home with two of a possible six points from the three-game trip.

Greyhounds assistant coach Brendan Taylor, filling in for head coach John Dean who was participating in the recently completed World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, said special teams and decision-making proved critical in the loss.

“Special teams, we have a lapse in judgment on the PK. We talk about defending our seam and two skilled players in (Carson) Rehkopf and (Filip) Mesar go through the seam to each other and they give the goaltender no chance on it,” Taylor said.

Taylor added that power play struggles were also an issue in the loss, which included the team being held off the scoresheet during a double minor to the Rangers in the opening period in which the home team held the Greyhounds at bay.

Taylor said not being able to score on the four-minute penalty “killed our momentum.”

“Frustration set in and we struggled on the power play all afternoon,” Taylor added.

For the Rangers, the game wasn’t a work of art, but they’re not going to decline the two points in the standings.

“Overall, not the prettiest win we’ve had,” Kitchener coach Jussi Ahokas said in an interview with RogersTV. “I didn’t like our first period, but after that, in the second and third, we were strong until we went up 5-1 and then we stopped playing.”

Kitchener opened the scoring 3:49 into the game after Matthew Virgilio turned the puck over defensively and Trent Swick beat Greyhounds goaltender Charlie Schenkel high glove side.

The Rangers took a 2-0 lead when Carson Rehkopf one-timed a pass in the right faceoff circle from Filip Mesar on the power play at 16:21.

The Greyhounds got on the board in the second period when Justin Cloutier took a pass in the slot from Connor Clattenburg after a Kitchener turnover by Matthew Andonovski and beat Rangers goaltender Jackson Parsons at 14:03.

Just 1:45 later, the Rangers restored the two-goal lead when Antonino Pugliese jumped on a rebound in the slot and beat Schenkel.

Kitchener extended the lead in the third period when Swick grabbed his second goal of the day. The veteran forward skated into the right faceoff circle and took a pass from Mesar before beating Schenkel glove side 2:34 into the final stanza.

Mesar made it a 5-1 game at 6:05 when he went to the net and redirected a pass from Swick past Schenkel.

Cloutier cut into the lead for the Greyhounds later in the period after scoring on a shorthanded breakaway at 10:24. Cloutier took a turnover by Hunter Brzustewicz in the Greyhounds zone and went in alone on Parsons, beating the Kitchener netminder with a backhand.

Owen Allard made it 5-3 with three minutes left when he scored from the slot stick side on Parsons after Kirill Kudryavtsev tried to hit Jordan D’Intino with a pass in tight, but the puck deflected to Allard higher in the slot instead.

Schenkel made 17 saves in the loss for the Greyhounds.

At the other end, Parsons made 32 saves for Kitchener.

Offensively, Mesar and Swick had three-point days for the Rangers.

Mesar had a goal and two assists while Swick had two goals and a helper in the victory.

“I liked Swicky especially,” Ahokas said in an interview with RogersTV following the game. “He had a great game. Two good goals. (He was) working hard.”

Brzustewicz chipped in with a pair of assists for Kitchener.

The Greyhounds now return home for a pair of games, beginning with a Wednesday clash against the Sudbury Wolves before facing North Bay on Friday night.

Puck drop for both games at the GFL Memorial Gardens is set for 7:07 p.m.

With the loss, the Greyhounds fall to 12-7-0-0 heading into the homestand, but remain in top spot in the OHL’s West Division.

Meanwhile, Kitchener improves to 14-5-0-0 on the season and holds a three-point lead over the London Knights for top spot in the Midwest Division.