They’ve stressed how important starting well is and for the Soo Greyhounds, a slow start on Sunday made life very difficult.
The Greyhounds fell behind 2-1 and were outshot 15-3 through one period against the Kitchener Rangers and, despite battling back and taking a lead, dropped a 4-3 overtime decision at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
Jonathan Yantsis found himself in the slot and beat Greyhounds goaltender Matthew Villalta in close 1:29 into overtime to give the Rangers the victory.
It was a game that the Greyhounds saw some positives, but the slow start proved costly.
“We looked pretty flat,” said Greyhounds Coach John Dean of the start to the game. “We pre-scouted them as having a really hard forecheck and they’re really aggressive. Still, we got caught off guard a little bit.
“Kitchener is a well-coached team and they came at us very hard,” Dean added.
Dean added that a tough start to the game “reinforces our point” of how important starting well is.
For the Rangers, the strong start was a key against the Greyhounds.
“I liked the fact that we came out hard,” said Kitchener Coach Jay McKee. “It’s not easy when a team plays the night before and then has a two o’clock game. I’m proud of our guys for taking advantage of that and coming out hard and trying to put them on their heels early.”
At times in the opening period, the Rangers managed to make it difficult for the Greyhounds to gather speed through the neutral zone.
“They’re a very creative team and a fast team,” McKee also said. “It was important that our forwards weren’t just relying on our defencemen to break up the rush. We had to have guys back and push hard from behind through the neutral zone and try to kill their creativity.”
After the tough start, the Greyhounds rebounded in the second period.
“Our response in the second period was fantastic,” Dean said.
He added how he liked the way the team adjusted to the Rangers making life difficult getting through the neutral zone in the first period.
“We started forcing them to try to chase us down,” Dean said.
“In the third period, I liked the way we were playing,” Dean also said. “We weren’t giving up much and weren’t giving them many chances. We made a mistake on a faceoff play and we take a penalty.”
Admitting a double-minor on the play to rookie Ryan O’Rourke was “a back-breaker,” Dean was happy with the penalty kill on the play prior to Greg Meireles tying the game with a minute left in the penalty.
“The unfortunate part was how hard our penalty kill worked to block shots and pay the price,” Dean said.
Dean called Sunday’s contest “a game that could have gone either way.”
O’Rourke had a goal and an assist for the Greyhounds while Rory Kerins and Mac Hollowell also scored.
Barrett Hayton assisted on a pair of Sault goals.
Villalta finished the day with 29 saves.
Rickard Hugg assisted on three goals for the Rangers while Yantsis had a goal and an assist.
Defenceman Michael Vukojevic assisted on a pair of Rangers goals.
Mike Petizian, Greg Meireles, and Joseph Garreffa also scored for Kitchener.
Rangers goaltender Lucas Pfeil stopped 20 shots.
The Greyhounds, in the midst of a battle with the Saginaw Spirit for top spot in the OHL’s West Division, fall to 31-10-5-1 with Sunday’s loss but the overtime decision means the team still gains a point on the Spirit in the standings after Saginaw lost Sunday afternoon in Ottawa against the 67’s.
In the Western Conference standings, the Greyhounds remain four points behind the London Knights for top spot in the conference after the Knights also won on Sunday.
Kitchener, battling with the Sarnia Sting and Windsor Spitfires for playoff positioning in the Western Conference, improve to 21-22-3-0.
For the Greyhounds, the team is set to have import forward Jaromir Pytlik return to action next weekend on the road after serving a league-imposed two-game suspension.
Pytlik will be in the lineup when the Greyhounds begin a three-game road trip on Thursday night in St. Catharines against the Niagara IceDogs.
Dean said following Sunday’s game that the status of injured forwards Cole MacKay and Roman Pucek was still somewhat up in the air.
MacKay is listed as day-to-day, but Dean noted the sophomore forward could return to action for the trip while Pucek may be a little further out.
In other afternoon action around the OHL on Sunday, Bradey Johnson had a goal and an assist as the Niagara IceDogs beat the Windsor Spitfires 4-3. Jack Studnicka and Jonathon Schaefer assisted on two goals each for Niagara.
In Mississauga, Adam Ruzicka’s goal at 11:17 of the third period was the game-winner as the Sudbury Wolves beat the Mississauga Steelheads 2-1. Wolves goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 40 shots while his counterpart, Joe Ranger of the Steelheads, made 36 saves.
In Ottawa, Tye Felhaber, Sasha Chmelevski, and Marco Rossi had a goal and an assist each as the Ottawa 67’s beat the Saginaw Spirit 5-3. Kyle Maksimovich assisted on a pair of goals for the 67’s.
In North Bay, Luke Burghardt had two goals and an assist as the North Bay Battalion blanked the Kingston Frontenacs 4-0. Matthew Struthers assisted on all four goals for North Bay. Christian Propp made 26 saves for the shutout.
In Oshawa, Liam Foudy had two goals and an assist as the London Knights beat the Oshawa Generals 5-3. Anthony Salinitri and Nicolas Mattinen had a goal and two assists each for Oshawa.
In Sarnia, Ryan McGregor had two goals and an assist as the Sarnia Sting beat the Hamilton Bulldogs 8-4. Brayden Guy also had a pair of goals for the Sting. Arthur Kaliyev scored a pair of goals for Hamilton.