An 11-day break and some early rust wasn’t enough to derail the Ontario Hockey League’s hottest team.
Returning from the Christmas break, the Soo Greyhounds beat the Saginaw Spirit 4-1 Thursday night at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw, extending a winning streak that began in late-October to 21 games in the process.
A strong performance from goaltender Matthew Villalta helped the Greyhounds shake off some early rust and extend the stream.
“The difference in the game was Matty Villalta making the saves to keep them out of reach when it was 2-1,” said Greyhounds Coach Drew Bannister. “We made a couple mistakes, but he was there to back us up.”
Villalta finished the night with 30 saves.
“In the morning skate, I was a little rusty and in the warmup I got lit up too and then I just went in after the warmup, prepared myself the way I normally do and played each shot by each shot and focused on making saves and keeping the team in it,” Villalta said.
A shorthanded goal by Keeghan Howdeshell helped turn the game in the Greyhounds favour late in the second period, giving the Greyhounds a 2-0 lead at the time.
“It was pretty big to get a lead because we started out pretty slow,” Howdeshell said. “After the shorthanded goal, we started to pick it up a notch.”
Howdeshell and Jack Kopacka finished the night with a goal and an assist each.
Morgan Frost and Hayden Verbeek had the other goals for the Greyhounds, who improve to 30-3-2-0 and move 10 points ahead of the Sarnia Sting, who lost at home Windsor on Thursday night.
“For both teams it was sloppy hockey early on, but we got better as the game went on,” Bannister said.
“Early on we made some poor decisions with the puck and it led to us having to defend longer than we probably should have been,” Bannister also said. “Guys are trying to find their legs and when you’re defending, you get tired quickly. As the game went on, overall we were a little bit better and a little bit sharper.”
Caleb Everett had the lone goal for the Spirit while overage goaltender Evan Cormier stopped 20 shots.
“Our effort was there, which was a nice change from the last couple of games,” Spirit Coach Troy Smith said in an interview with the Saginaw TV broadcast.
“At times the effort was there but we watched them a little bit,” Smith also said. “And that’s going to happen against a great team like the Sault. Overall, I was pretty happy. You’re going to have to deal with that. You’re going to play great teams in this league.”
The loss drops Saginaw’s record to 17-13-3-0.
The Greyhounds return to action on Friday night at home against the Flint Firebirds. Puck drop at the Essar Centre is 7:07 p.m.
It was a busy night around the OHL with all 20 teams in action.
In Sarnia, Michael DiPietro made 43 saves as the Windsor Spitfires blanked the Sarnia Sting 5-0. Tyler Angle had a pair of goals for Windsor.
In Flint, Maurizio Colella had the shootout winner as the Flint Firebirds beat the London Knights 3-2.
In Guelph, Isaac Ratcliffe scored a pair of goals as the Guelph Storm beat the Peterborough Petes 3-1.
In Hamilton, Brandon Saigeon scored three times to lead the Hamilton Bulldogs to an 8-4 win over the Mississauga Steelheads. MacKenzie Entwistle added a pair of goals while Ben Gleason and Nicholas Caamano assisted on three goals each for Hamilton. Owe Tippett had two goals and an assist for Mississauga.
In Kingston, Jeremy Helvig made 36 saves as the Kingston Frontenacs blanked the Ottawa 67’s 2-0.
In North Bay, Kirill Maksimov scored 51 seconds into overtime to lift the Niagara IceDogs to a 3-2 win over the North Bay Battalion. Maksimov had a goal and an assist for the IceDogs, who scored three unanswered goals in the win. Stephen Dhillon made 44 saves for Niagara.
In Owen Sound, Joseph Garreffa had a goal and two assists as the Kitchener Rangers beat the Owen Sound Attack 5-1. Connor Bunnaman and Rickard Hugg had a goal and an assist each for the Rangers.
In Oshawa, Eric Henderson had a goal and an assist as the Oshawa Generals doubled up the Erie Otters 4-2. Oshawa goaltender Kyle Keyser made 33 saves while Danil Antropov and Jack Studnicka assisted on a pair of goals each.
In Barrie, Leo Lazarev made 34 saves as the Barrie Colts beat the Sudbury Wolves 4-2. Mario Culina made 35 saves for the Wolves.