Greyhounds drop overtime decision in battle of division rivals (video, 10 photos)

It was a battle of two of the Ontario Hockey League’s top West Division teams and the Flint Firebirds took advantage of their opportunity.

Trailing the Soo Greyhounds atop the division, the Firebirds picked up a 5-4 overtime win over the Greyhounds Friday night at the GFL Memorial Gardens in a game that saw the Greyhounds hold a pair of leads before the visitors forced overtime.

Zacharie Giroux scored shorthanded with 1:12 to go in the extra frame to give the Firebirds the win.

“You can’t play a 30-minute game,” said Greyhounds coach John Dean. “We played a really good first half of the game. We were very strong. We had a great first half of the second period, controlling most of the play.”

Dean added that the Greyhounds “probably gave up a few too many chances” early on, but that’s a product of the talent level of the Firebirds as opposed to what the Greyhounds were doing in the contest.

“They’re a very good transition team,” Dean said. “We were probably a little too cute there. We had a tough first goal against and it started to unravel there.”

The first goal was a breakaway goal on the power play that came moments after a Greyhounds player was taken out in the Flint zone on the play.

“Our guys were working really hard on the penalty kill,” Dean said. “(Owen Allard) gets taken down and unfortunately can’t get back and they score a goal. It’s still a missed assignment, but it was tough circumstances for our guys.”

Dean said the overtime winner came as a result of fatigue.

“The guys were tired,” Dean said. “I overplayed my big guys. We’re obviously trying to double down for a win here tonight and we looked tired at the end there.”

Forward Tanner Dickinson said the Greyhounds “definitely did enough” to win the hockey game.

“We definitely should have won that game,” said veteran forward Tanner Dickinson. “We shot ourselves in the foot. We need to manage the puck better at the bluelines and a couple times we need to stay out of the box. We definitely did enough (to win). If we manage the puck and play our game, there’s no reason we can’t.”

Dickinson added he felt the Greyhounds were feeding into the Firebirds style at times in the game

For the Firebirds, coach Ted Dent said he was “really proud” of his team in the game.

“We didn’t give up,” Dent said. “We’ve learned in this league this year that you’re never out of a game. We’ve lost some games as well when we’ve been up on other teams.”

Dent called some key penalty kills part of the difference in rebounding after falling behind.

“We weren’t playing horrible,” Dent said. “(They Greyhounds) were playing really good. They were beating us to some pucks and winning some more battles. We just got one goal and got a little bit of energy and went from there.”

The Greyhounds opened the scoring with 56.3 seconds to go in the opening period when Cole MacKay took a pass from Rory Kerins and beat Flint goaltender Luke Cavallin from the slot.

Overage defenceman Robert Calisti made it 2-0 Greyhounds as he grabbed a loose puck below the goalline to the left of the Flint goal before tucking it past Cavallin 5:08 into the second period.

The Greyhounds would take a 3-0 lead when Tanner Dickinson found himself in the right faceoff circle and one-timed a pass from Tye Kartye past Cavallin at 9:52.

Flint got on the board at 13:16 when Riley Piercey took a breakaway pass from Sahil Panwar and beat Tucker Tynan to make it 3-1.

Flint cut the Greyhounds lead to 3-2 at 17:44 when Dmitry Kuzmin’s cross-ice pass attempt from the left point was partially blocked, but still found its way to Tyler Deline, who beat Tynan from in close.

The Firebirds tied the game 66 seconds into the third period when the Greyhounds turned the puck over in the Flint zone and Panwar turned the play up ice before feeding Brennan Othmann in the left circle. Othmann then beat Tynan glove side to tie the game.

The Greyhounds took the lead at 6:38 of the third when Dickinson picked up his second of the night on a one-timer from the right circle. Kirill Kudryavtsev got the puck at the left point and hit Dickinson with the pass.

On the power play with 3:33 to go, Amadeus Lombardi took a pass from Tag Bertuzzi below the goalline and beat Tynan to tie the game at four.

On the overtime winner, Giroux took a pass from Zack Terry and proceeded to beat Tynan stick side from the left circle with 1:12 to go in the extra frame.

MacKay finished the night with a goal and an assist while Kalvyn Watson assisted on a pair of goals for the Greyhounds.

Tynan finished the night with 28 saves for the Greyhounds.

Cavallin made 36 stops for Flint, which included a diving stop on Dickinson in the third period with the score still 4-3 Greyhounds.

“He held us in there,” Dent said. “That back-door power play save in the third was a huge save. That would have been game over probably. He’s been good for us all year.”

Giroux finished the night with a goal and an assist while Panwar had a pair of helpers for the Firebirds.

MacKay left the game in the third period due to injury after blocking a shot in the Greyhounds zone.

Dean said following the game that MacKay leaving “was more precautionary than anything.”

The loss drops the Greyhounds record to 22-12-3-1 while the Firebirds improve to 21-13-0-2 and pull to within four points of the Greyhounds for top spot in the OHL’s West Division.

The Windsor Spitfires also picked up two points on Friday thanks to a win over the Guelph Storm and remain tied with the Firebirds for second in the division with 44 points.

The Greyhounds return to action on Saturday night against the Barrie Colts. Puck drop at the GFL Memorial Gardens is set for 7:07 p.m.