Greyhounds look to be better after series-opening loss (video, 4 photos)

It wasn’t due to lack of chances.

The Soo Greyhounds opened up the second round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs on the road on Friday night by outshooting the Flint Firebirds 58-31 in a 5-3 loss at the Dort Financial Center in Flint.

While they still feel like they can be better, they also feel like they deserved a better fate in the Western Conference semifinal-opening loss to the Firebirds.

“We outplayed them, but I don’t think it’s our best hockey,” veteran forward Kalvyn Watson said. “We can bring more pace and keep that same style of game going (success will come).”

Firebirds goaltender Luke Cavallin was stellar in the win, stopping 55 shots.

“Their goalie played great,” Dean said. “Our guys had a great push, especially in the second half of that game. What a great response in the third period. That’s a credit to our guys.”

Dean added though that the message heading into game two is “we have to be better.”

“It’s a great effort and we did a lot of good things, but our intensity level can be much higher,” Dean said. “We can get scrappier in front of the net, and we need to capitalize on our chances.”

The Firebirds opened the scoring in the first period with a pair of goals on the power play and Dean noted that the goals go back to the intensity level.

“We were playing well and that’s a little bit about the intensity level that we’re talking about,” Dean said. “We have to make sure that we block shots and bear down on those opportunities against and then they don’t find the back of our net.”

“We can’t take penalties against that team,” Thompson added. “They’ve got a good power play and it cost us.”

With that, Dean said the response of the team has been positive of late in similar situations.

“The way our team is going right now, when pucks go in our net, there’s actually a really good response on our bench,” Dean said. “There’s a huge belief in our room right now.”

Firebirds coach Ted Dent called the power play goals important for the team.

“It was huge,” Dent said in an interview with the Firebirds Hockey Network. “We worked on it this morning. We did some video as well this afternoon and made it a point of emphasis. We switched it up a little bit.”

Flint opened the scoring on the power play 5:58 in when Ethan Keppen beat Samuel Ivanov from the edge of the right circle after a point shot by Dmitry Kuzmin was wide and deflected to Keppen off the end boards.

With 25.7 seconds to go in the period, Brennan Othmann made it 2-0 with Flint’s second power play goal of the night. The veteran forward bat Ivanov with a shot from the top of the left circle past a block attempt by Bryce McConnell-Barker.

After a scoreless second period, Watson got the Greyhounds on the board 5:04 into the third period when he tapped in a loose puck in close after Thompson’s initial shot was stopped by Flint goaltender Luke Cavallin. The rebound deflected into the crease off Watson.

Thompson proceeded to tie the game at 6:24 when he got the puck at the top of the right faceoff circle and beat Cavallin with a shot glove side.

Just 52 seconds later, Flint retook the lead when Riley Piercey moved in on a 2-on-1, hit Othmann with a pass and then beat Ivanov on the return feed to make it 3-2 Firebirds.

Coulson Pitre made it 4-2 Firebirds at 13:50 when he beat Greyhounds defenceman Kirill Kudryavtsev in the slot before sliding the puck past Ivanov in close.

Thompson made it a one-goal game with 4:14 to go in regulation time when he beat Cavallin with a point shot through traffic.

Pitre sealed the win with an empty net goal with 20 seconds to go.

Thompson and Watson finished the night with three points each for the Greyhounds; Thompson scoring twice and assisting on another goal while Watson had a goal and a pair of helpers.

Ivanov stopped 26 shots for the Greyhounds.

Othmann paced the Firebirds offensively with four points in the win, scoring once and assisting on three other goals.

Kuzmin also assisted on three goals for Flint.

Cavallin stopped 55 shots.

The series resumes on Sunday in a 4 p.m. start in Flint before it shifts to Sault Ste. Marie for games three and four during the week.

“We’ll take the good things, learn from the stuff that cost us and move on,” Dean said of Sunday’s game. “There’s a lot of good stuff to take and we’re excited about the formula moving forward.”