In the midst of a road trip that is arguably their toughest stretch to date in the young Ontario Hockey League season, the Soo Greyhounds are about as confident as can be
Just 24 hours after upending the Windsor Spitfires on Thursday night in Windsor, the Greyhounds used a three-goal second period to grab a shutout win over the Kitchener Rangers on Friday night at Kitchener’s Memorial Auditorium.
The Greyhounds blanked the Rangers 4-0 in Friday’s contest to pick up their third consecutive win in the process.
The second period saw the Greyhounds outshoot the Rangers by a 10-5 margin as they took a 3-0 lead en route to the victory.
Greyhounds coach John Dean called the second period “the most complete 20 minutes we’ve played all season.”
“We got above pucks while still creating offensively,” Dean added. “We were able to generate offence without playing a run-and-gun style. We got to the blue paint. We managed the puck exceptionally well. It was just a very complete 20 minutes.”
For the Rangers, coach Jussi Ahokas was not pleased with his team in the middle stanza.
“We were bad,” Ahokas said in an interview with RogersTV following the game. “I don’t like how we compete right now.”
Ahokas added that discipline was a problem in the game.
“Three penalties in the offensive zone and they score two goals in the four-on-four,” Ahokas said.
Starting in back-to-back games, Greyhounds goaltender Landon Miller picked up his fifth career shutout in the victory.
Dean praised Miller’s play in Thursday’s win in Windsor, calling the veteran netminder “exceptional.”
Following Friday’s contest, Dean credited Miller’s play in the shutout as well.
“In the first period, (he made) three big saves at the end of the period in the last five minutes to keep us feeling good about the period,” Dean said. “The second period, not tested too much. The third period, we were very average, they pressed us pretty well and he came up with a number of big saves. Just a really quiet, sound, calm, connected game, which is what we need from Landon. He’s been a monster for us two games in a row.”
Dean agreed that Miller’s play on Thursday night changed his plan on how the Greyhounds goaltending situation was going to be handled this weekend.
“It was tough for me because he had so much work last night,” Dean said, “but when you play like that, I felt he deserved to be rewarded.”
“He’s the guy that, obviously we’re planning on playing two out of three. For me, it was let’s give him the ball again and see if he keeps rolling with it,” Dean added.
Miller called getting the shutout “obviously a good feeling.”
“The boys are playing well in front of me and it’s making my job a lot easier and I’m there to make a big save when we need it,” Miller also said.
Miller said his confidence “is pretty high right now.”
“That stems from practice,” Miller added. “You put a good week of practice together and the results will pay off on the weekend.”
With a pair of wins in hand, defenceman Chase Reid spoke of the confidence the Greyhounds heading into the trip finale on Sunday.
“We’re confident in what we do,” Reid said. “I wouldn’t say we’re overly confident. I’d say we’re staying pretty humble because anything can happen any night. If we just stay humble and keep bringing the way we played tonight and last night, we’ll be fine against London.”
The teams skated through a scoreless opening period before Reid capitalized on a pair of chances in the second period to give the Greyhounds the lead.
With the teams playing four-on-four, Reid opened the scoring initially when he took a pass near the blueline from Marco Mignosa, skated in and proceeded to beat Rangers goaltender Christian Kirsch from near the top of the right faceoff circle glove side at 8:41.
On the next shift, Reid extended the lead for the Greyhounds when he took a pass from Travis Hayes and beat Kirsh glove side from the slot 59 seconds later.
The visitors took a 3-0 lead when Jordan Charron scored his 17th goal of the season, beating Kirsch from in close on a second chance after the Sault forward couldn’t get his initial shot off in traffic. The goal came at 13:55.
With 3:54 to go in the third period, Mignosa capped off the scoring with an empty net goal for the Greyhounds.
Reid finished the night with two goals and an assist while Mignosa had one of each for the Greyhounds.
Miller made 18 saves for the shutout.
Kirsch stopped 17 shots for the Rangers.
The road trip wraps up for the Greyhounds on Sunday after a day off on Saturday. Following the off day, the team will face the London Knights at London’s Canada Life Place on Sunday afternoon.
Friday’s win over Kitchener improves the Greyhounds record to 14-8-1-0 on the season.