It wasn’t pretty at times, but for the mental state of the Soo Greyhounds, the result was what mattered most.
Coming off a lopsided 8-2 loss at the hands of the Ottawa 67’s on Friday night at home, the Greyhounds rebounded with a 6-5 overtime win against the Windsor Spitfires on Sunday afternoon at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
Barrett Hayton forced a turnover in the Windsor zone on the opening shift of overtime and the puck found its way to Morgan Frost in the slot, who proceeded to beat Windsor goaltender Kari Piiroinen to give the Greyhounds the win.
“We’re not going to critique a win at this point,” Greyhounds Coach John Dean. “Anytime you get two points when you’re in a bit of a rut like that, you don’t critique the game too hard.”
Hayton finished the night with two goals and two assists with both his goals coming early as the Greyhounds jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the contest.
“Barrett was a beast all night,” Dean said. “He took the game into his hands in overtime. On the goal, his intensity to go cut the Windsor player off and get the puck showed his will to win.”
After the Greyhounds opened up the lead in the second period, the Spitfires would score five of the next six goals in the game to take a 5-4 lead. The stretch included a pair of goals in the final minute of the second period to tie the game at four.
“You never want to give up a three-goal lead, but I liked the resiliency of our group,” Dean said. “A lot of teams could have crumbled after giving up that lead and then playing from behind, but we found a way to win.”
Windsor Coach Trevor Letowski felt his team deserved a better fate in the game.
“I didn’t like our first period but as the game went on, we got better,” Letowski said. “We had 28 shots on them in the last two periods. Especially in the third, that’s the way our team plays.”
“That’s when we’re at our best is when we’re hunting pucks and causing turnovers and transitioning quick,” Letowski also said.
Jordan Sambrook, Keeghan Howdeshell, and Cole MacKay also scored for the Greyhounds. Overage defenceman Mac Hollowell chipped in with three assists.
Mario Peccia got the start for the Greyhounds and made 29 saves.
Grayson Ladd had a goal and an assist for Windsor while Luke Kutkevicius and Thomas Stevenson also had two points each for Windsor with a pair of assists.
Mathew MacDougall, Kyle McDonald, Daniel D’Amico, and Curtis Douglas also scored for the Spitfires.
Goaltender Kari Piiroinen made 33 saves for the Spitfires.
The win snaps a three-game losing skid for the Greyhounds. The team improves to 13-6-3-1 and holds a six-point lead on Windsor and Saginaw for top spot in the OHL’s West Division.
Windsor falls to 11-10-1-1 but pulls into a tie with Saginaw in the division after getting a point for the overtime loss.
The Greyhounds return to action on Wednesday night in the final game of a three-game homestand in which the team will host the Sudbury Wolves in a 7:07 p.m. game at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
In other action around the OHL on Sunday, in Kingston, Brett Neumann had a pair of goals while Jason Robertson had four assists as the Kingston Frontenacs beat the Hamilton Bulldogs 5-3.
In Mississauga, Owen Tippett had two goals and two assists as the Mississauga Steelheads beat the Sudbury Wolves 5-3. Ryan McLeod also had a pair of goals for Mississauga. Cole Carter had three assists for Mississauga.
In North Bay, Sam Bitten had two goals and two assists as the Ottawa 67’s beat the Sudbury Wolves 7-4. Kody Clark and Sasha Chmelevski chipped in with a goal and two assists each for Ottawa. Adam McMaster scored twice while Justin Brazeau had a goal and two assists for North Bay.
Games between the London Knights and Erie Otters in Erie along with the Oshawa Generals hosting the Niagara IceDogs, were evening starts and not complete at the time of writing.
In other news around the league on Sunday, the Saginaw Spirit relieved Troy Smith of his duties as head coach.
Chris Lazary, who served as an associate coach with the team, will take over as head coach.
The Spirit have an 11-9-1-1 record after weekend action.
A trade was also announced on Sunday as the Barrie Colts acquired the rights to forward Jacob Tortora from the Kitchener Rangers.
The deal breaks down as follows:
- To Barrie: Jacob Tortora and a conditional 5th round pick (2021)
- To Kitchener: Conditional 15th round pick (2019)
The conditions on the pick going to the Rangers are the pick will be changed to Oshawa’s 3rd round pick in 2020 and a Sudbury 2nd round pick in 2023 once Tortora plays a game for the Colts. If he plays in his overage year, the Colts will then send their 2nd round pick in the 2024 OHL Priority Selection Draft.
Tortora was originally a first round pick of the Colts in the 2015 draft but was dealt to the Rangers when he wouldn’t report to Barrie.
As part of Sunday’s deal, the conditions on picks as part of the original deal between the two clubs have been removed.