If the game was won strictly on chances, the Soo Greyhounds would have been in good shape, but being unable to capitalize on them was costly as the team returned home for a three-game homestand that kicked off on Wednesday night.
Despite outshooting their opponent by nearly a two to one margin, the Greyhounds dropped a 3-2 Ontario Hockey League decision to the Flint Firebirds Wednesday at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
It was a night in which the team outshot the Firebirds by a 21-9 margin in the final 40 minutes after the teams traded shots in the opening period, but the Greyhounds couldn’t take advantage of the chances they had.
“We probably deserved to win the game in terms of chances, but when you don’t score, it amplifies the mistakes,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said. “Three costly mistakes cost us goals against and that’s what happens when you don’t put the puck away.”
Dean called the second period for the Greyhounds “dominant.”
“A ton of chances to score,” Dean added. “Could easily be 4- or 5-1 after the second period.”
“I do think that we traded a little bit too much off the rush,” Dean also said. “As we’re penetrating the offensive zone for 30, 40 seconds, we did allow some odd man rushes against that were quality chances against in the second period.”
Dean called the third period “a decent period” in which mistakes were costly.
“More chance generation, but two major mistakes cost us two goals,” Dean said.
“One is a missed assignment in front of the net, we’re not boxing out,” Dean also said. “The third goal is another one where, defensively, we have coverage and it’s a two-on-five. We don’t cover the guy who puts the puck away.”
Flint coach Paul Flache credited goaltender Mason Vaccari in the victory as well.
“He’s been outstanding and a rock for us all season long and he was solid again (tonight),” Flache said. “He made some big saves down the stretch.”
“You don’t win in this league without a great goaltender, and he’s been outstanding all year for us,” Flache added.
Flache said he was pleased with the Firebirds start in the game and their response in the final period after the Greyhounds carried the play in the middle stanza.
“I liked our first period for the most part,” Flache said. “They took it to us possession-wise in the second period and they wore us down, but I liked our response in the third period. We played much harder on them.”
Flint opened the scoring 2:33 into the contest when Nathan Aspinall picked off a defensive zone pass by Marco Mignosa of the Greyhounds, skated into the left faceoff circle and beat Sault goaltender Landon Miller.
The Greyhounds tied the game in the middle period as Quinn McKenzie took a pass from defenceman Harris Pangretitsch and skated into the right faceoff circle, beating Vaccari stick side at 7:23.
Flint made it a 2-1 game 3:23 into the third period when Josh Colosimo found himself in traffic in the slot and had a point shot from Luka Graziano deflect off him past Miller to give the visitors the lead.
Christopher Thibodeau extended the Firebirds lead at 8:09 of the third when he skated into the slot and one-timed a pass from Urban Podrekar below the goalline past Miller to make it a 3-1 game.
With Miller on the bench for an extra attacker late in the game, the Greyhounds pulled to within a goal after Chase Reid got the puck and took a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle that beat Vaccari stick side through traffic with 3:15 to go in regulation.
The Greyhounds pulled Miller again in an attempt to tie the game but couldn’t beat Vaccari as the Firebirds held on.
Miller finished the night with 15 saves while Vaccari stopped 30 of 32 for the Firebirds.
The Greyhounds are set to continue a three-game homestand with games on Friday night against the Guelph Storm and Saturday night against the Barrie Colts.
Wednesday’s setback drops the Greyhounds record to 11-7-1-0 on the season and ends a three-game winning streak for the club.
Flint improves to 9-6-1-0 with the victory.
The Greyhounds remain without defenceman Callum Croskery (upper body), and forwards Carson Andrew (upper body) and Ryan Kaczynski (upper body) due to injuries.
Brodie McConnell-Barker, who missed the first 18 games of the regular season due to illness, returned to the Sault lineup on Wednesday night.
Of note in Wednesday’s contest, local referee Marcus Policicchio wore the stripes along with veteran OHL referee Mike Cairns for the opening period of the game before Ryan Elbers took over at the beginning of period two.
Policicchio was slated to work the game as a linesman with Corey Jackson, but Jackson finished the game on the lines with Michael Quesnele.