Since an overtime victory over the Windsor Spitfires on Nov. 17, things have been a struggle for the Soo Greyhounds.
At the time, the victory improved the Sault’s record to 12-9-0-0 through 21 games.
Since then, the team has won just four games and sit six games under the .500 mark overall as a result.
The stretch included a 7-1 loss at the hands of the Sudbury Wolves on Wednesday night in Sudbury.
“It takes a bit of a toll on you,” veteran forward Justin Cloutier said of the stretch.
“You just try to stay positive and work your way out of it. We’re only six games under .500 and it’s possible for us to climb back. There’s still light at the end of the tunnel.”’
Asked what needed to be better in Wednesday’s loss, Cloutier talked about the Greyhounds offensive game.
“We need to find a way to score more scrappy goals,” Cloutier said.
“They’re not always going to be off the rush, it’s going to be tips and rebounds. We only scored one goal tonight. We have to find a way to get some ugly ones.”
Greyhounds coach John Dean added that mistakes also proved costly for the Greyhounds in the setback against the Wolves.
“It’s another game where our guys battle right to the end, put 40 shots on the board. We worked hard tonight, but made mistakes,” Dean said. “It seems like every mistake was costly. We’re not a team that can post another team a 2-0 or 3-0 lead, no matter how hard you work to fight back.”
“We have to make sure our starts are in a spot where we give ourselves an opportunity to win games,” Dean added.
Sudbury opened the scoring as veteran forward Kocha Delic stepped out from the left side boards and into the face-off circle before beating Greyhounds goaltender Landon Miller high short side on the power play at 6:34 of the opening period.
The Wolves took a 2-0 lead as Sault product Luca Blonda took a shot from the right point that found its way through traffic and handcuffed Miller 2:16 later.
Off a faceoff win by Noah Kohan, Chase Coughlan extended the Sudbury 98 seconds into the second period as he beat Miller with a shot from just inside the right faceoff circle.
Sudbury made it a 4-0 game as Alex Pharand went to the net and redirected a pass in tight from Delic that found its way past Miller at 3:14. Pharand got just enough on the redirection for it to slip past Miller.
While on the power play, the Greyhounds finally got on the board as Noel Nordh beat Sudbury goaltender Nate Krawchuk from the right faceoff circle with a one-timer off a pass from Chase Reid at 9:28 of the middle stanza.
Sudbury came back and made it 5-1 at 17:30 as Kieron Walton got into the slot and beat Miller with a one-timer that he didn’t get off cleanly on a pass from Pharand. Miller couldn’t get into position to make a save on the off-speed shot from Walton.
Delic extended the lead further as he skated into the slot late and took a pass from Walton before beating Miller on the power play to make it 6-1 at 8:33 of the third period.
Sudbury capped off the scoring as Ondrej Molnar beat a Sault defenceman in the slot before beating Miller with a backhand at 14:12.
Miller stopped 34 shots for the Greyhounds in the setback
“It’s clearly not his A game,” Dean said. “When he’s dialed in and focused, he gives us a great opportunity to win games. He’s stole some games for us. For whatever reason, when it doesn’t go well, it doesn’t go well.”
“Given our current offensive production, we need really good performances every night from our goalies,” Dean also said. “That’s our current reality.”
Delic finished the night with three goals and an assist to pace the Wolves offensively in the victory while Walton and Coughlan added a goal and two assists each for Sudbury.
Pharand also had a pair of assists for Sudbury.
Dean said the success of Sudbury’s top line, which included Delic, Walton, and Pharand, was something the Greyhounds could learn from.
“That line has had success against us all season,” Dean said of the trio. “The speed that they use, they’re very hungry to score goals. We can learn from their hunger to score. We did a lot of good things getting pucks to the house, but once we got there, we didn’t win any of those battles and give ourselves a chance to put a puck in the net.”
Krawchuk made 39 saves.
The Greyhounds return to action Friday night at home when they host the Kingston Frontenacs in the first of a pair of weekend games at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
With the loss on Wednesday, the Greyhounds fall to 16-22-0-0 on the season while Sudbury improves to 21-11-5-0.
Wednesday was the first game for new Greyhounds forward Brady T. Smith, acquired from the Oshawa Generals on Tuesday in a deal that sent defenceman Andrew Gibson to the Eastern Conference club.
Dean said he saw flashes of what Smith is capable of in the game.
“He’s going to have to learn what we’re trying to do here and what we’re trying to accomplish, but he showed flashes of his skill and of his shot,” Dean said. “Hopefully we can find ways to generate him more opportunities to do that.”