Greyhounds rebound in battle of Western Conference clubs (video, 13 photos)

They have become accustomed to rebounding and the Soo Greyhounds did just that on Friday night.

After a disappointing overtime loss to the Sudbury Wolves on Wednesday night at home, the Greyhounds picked up a 6-3 Ontario Hockey League victory over the London Knights Friday at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

The Greyhounds jumped out to a 4-1 lead through one period en route to the win.

“We definitely didn’t expect to be up 4-1,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said of the start to the game. “Our guys didn’t do anything overly special. They managed the puck well. They went north consistently instead of trying to be cute. We got pucks in behind their D and our return to our D-zone was a lot better than it usually is, which is important for us.”

For the Greyhounds, Friday’s victory was also a rebound performance after dropping an 8-5 decision in London on Feb. 18.

“After the last game, everybody knew that we owed (London) a game,” said Greyhounds captain Ryan O’Rourke. “Right from the beginning we took it to them. We were all over them forechecking.”

O’Rourke said the game had a playoff atmosphere to it.

“Playoff games change,” O’Rourke said. “That was a perfect example of a playoff game.”

Dean said the team rebounding in Friday’s game is something the team expects.

“We’ve become accustomed to watching our guys respond to adversity and respond to games where we felt like we weren’t the Soo Greyhounds that we should be,” Dean said. “We were obviously very disappointed with our performance against Sudbury. Tonight’s performance had a lot to do with it being a big game, but also more to do with the guys remembering who we are and what our identity needs to be.”

Rookie forward Owen Allard added that the motivation was high following Wednesday’s loss to Sudbury.

“We were definitely very motivated,” Allard said.

Allard called the start to the game “very important.”

“The start is everything in a game,” Allard added. “To get on the board early, (Rory) Kerins had a great shot that got the boys going.”

Asked about the start to the game, Knights head coach Dale Hunter called it “part of hockey.”

“The kids battled and came back a bit and we had a chance to pull our goalie (late in the game),” Hunter said.

The Greyhounds opened the scoring 41 seconds into the game when Rory Kerins beat Knights goaltender Brett Brochu from the slot after a turnover near the London blueline.

Owen Allard made it 2-0 Greyhounds wen he knocked in a rebound after Jack Thompson’s initial point shot on the play was stopped by Brochu at 6:46.

London cut the Sault lead to 2-1 at 13:51 when Sean McGurn tipped a Gerard Keane point shot past Tucker Tynan.

Allard made it 3-1 with his second of the night when he poked in a loose puck during a scramble at the top of the crease at 17:02 of the opening period.

After a turnover at the Sault blueline, Kerins hit Tye Kartye with a pass on a 2-on-1 and Kartye beat Brochu high stick side to make it 4-1 Greyhounds at 18:58.

Antonio Stranges cut the Greyhounds lead to 4-2 at 15:34 of the second period when he took a shot from the slot that handcuffed Tynan.

The Greyhounds took a 5-2 lead when the Knights turned the puck over in the Sault zone and Bryce McConnell-Barker broke in on a 2-on-1 and beat Brochu from the right circle at 17:46 of the second period.

Luke Evangelista cut the Greyhounds lead to 5-3 at 17:20 of the third when he stepped pasts a Greyhounds defender in the slot and deked Tynan in close.

Kerins sealed the win with an empty net goal with 1:33 to go in the contest after Tye Kartye forced a turnover by the Knights at the Greyhounds blueline.

The two-goal performance from Allard gives the rookie forward five goals in his last three games.

“Owen Allard’s two goals were hard work in front of the net and getting pucks through and those are ultimately win you important hockey games,” Dean said.

Kerins finished the night with two goals and an assist while Kartye had one of each for the Greyhounds.

Tynan was solid for the Greyhounds, stopping 21 London shots.

“Tucker was great,” Dean said. “The biggest thing for us is he really battled. When you battle, it really provides energy to the 19 guys in front of you. It’s human nature. The way he battled and stuck to it; London’s very good tracking to the net and very good with their low cycle and probably the best in the league for getting pucks from behind the goalline to in front of our goalie and Tucker really battled tonight.”

Brochu stopped 14 of 19 Greyhounds shots in two periods of work.

Flores made six saves in the final period.

Cody Morgan had a pair of assists offensively for the Knights.

The two clubs wrap up their season series on Saturday night in a 7:07 p.m. puck drop at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

With the win, the Greyhounds improve to 28-15-5-1 and sit two points behind the Flint Firebirds for top spot in the OHL’s West Division after the Firebirds also won on Friday night.

The Knights fall to 29-13-2-0 with the loss.

The game marked a return to the lineup for O’Rourke, who was out due to an upper-body injury. The veteran blueliner was excited to return to the lineup, adding that he and the team wanted to make sure he was “over 100 per cent” before he returned to game action.

“I felt really good,” O’Rourke added. “I had a lot of energy.”

On Friday afternoon, the OHL announced that proof of vaccination in arena will no longer be required as of March 1, which is also the first day in which capacity limits will be lifted to allow full capacity at OHL arenas.

The city issued a statement on the news later Friday afternoon in which city corporate communications officer Tessa Vecchio said the city had “not yet received any regulations from the province that outline this next phase of reopening."

"Once we receive formal regulations, we will review them and follow our usual procedures of working with Algoma Public Health and assessing local health indicators and requirements to ensure the continued health and safety of our staff and facility users," Vecchio also said.