While the final weeks of the regular season had a playoff feel to it as they battled for an Ontario Hockey League playoff spot, nerves definitely showed for the Soo Greyhounds on Thursday night.
Taking to the ice for the first game of their opening round playoff series with the Windsor Spitfires on Thursday night, the Greyhounds looked like a team with little playoff experience.
Windsor opened up a 2-0 lead before the game was four minutes old and ultimately grabbed a 1-0 series lead with a 7-2 win over the Greyhounds at the WFCU Centre in Windsor.
“Our start wasn’t great,” said forward Owen Allard. “I feel like we were a bit shellshocked. It’s a lot of our team’s first playoff game, so it’s definitely a different atmosphere.”
“We got our feet wet tonight and a little taste now of what the series is going to be like,” Allard added.
Greyhounds coach John Dean said his team “looked really nervous in the first period.”
“There’s so many areas we can improve upon,” Dean also said. “It would be scarier if we felt like we played a good game and still couldn’t find a way to get it done. A lot of errors in our own end. Very disconnected as a group. We allowed them to use their speed. There’s a lot of things we can do to solve what was a very tough night for us.”
For the Spitfires, the early lead was a much-needed confidence boost.
“That was huge for our confidence,” Windsor forward Noah Morneau said of the start in an interview following the win with YourTV. “We settled in there in the first period, and we did a great job in our own zone.”
“When you get up, you can keep pressing,” Morneau also said.
On a night in which they had just 16 shots on goal, and nine through the first 40 minutes, Dean called a lack of shooting mentality as part of the issue.
“Early on, we had a lot of opportunity to get pucks on net from the blue and chose to reset the puck behind the net,” Dean said. “It’s really a mentality. When we did shoot the puck, even on the power play, we’re missing the net by two feet and trying to be perfect. Reality is, you have to get through that first layer and get it on net. (Windsor) put a lot of pucks to our net from tough angles and it causes a lot of confusion after the fact. There’s never a bad shot in this league.”
Allard added that the Greyhounds forecheck played a role in the lack of shots on goal as well.
“The biggest part is getting our forecheck established,” Allard said. “Our success came from tracking the puck once we got on the forecheck and causing turnovers. That’s how our offence gets generated. In the playoffs, it’s so tight in games that you really can’t make the plays you do in the regular season. It’s a real north and south game.”
Windsor opened the scoring just 2:08 into the contest as Carson Woodall took a shot from the top of the left circle that beat Greyhounds goaltender Nolan Lalonde glove side.
Just 1:26 later, Cole Davis of the Spitfires beat Sault defenceman Keegan Gillen down the left wing, cut in from the faceoff circle and beat Lalonde with a backhand 5-hole to make it a 2-0 game.
Windsor made it a 3-0 game 37 seconds into the second period when Liam Greentree took a pass in the left faceoff circle from Ilya Protas and proceeded to beat Lalonde.
On the next shift, 16 seconds later, Travis Hayes took a shot from the high slot that handcuffed Windsor goaltender Joey Costanzo to make it a 3-1 game.
The Greyhounds pulled to within one at 13:54 at Owen Allard found some open ice in behind the Windsor defencemen and took a pass from Noel Nordh near the blueline and proceeded to beat Costanzo in alone on the power play.
Windsor made it a 4-2 game heading into the intermission as Noah Morneau scored on a rebound on the power play after his initial shot from the right circle hit the post. The goal, which came with 1:06 to go in the period, came shortly after Greyhounds forward Marco Mignosa nearly tied the game with a shorthanded marker at the other end.
Allard called the goal “a pivotal moment in the game.”
“That goes to show how quick the playoffs can change,” Allard added.
Morneau grabbed his second goal of the night at 9:50 of the third period when he scored in tight on a loose puck after a wraparound attempt by Protas was unsuccessful.
After an empty net goal by Greentree with 5:48 to go, Luke McNamara made it 7-2 Windsor 16 seconds later, beating Lalonde high short side from the right circle on a pass from Jack Nesbitt on a 2-on-1.
Lalonde made 30 saves for the Greyhounds.
Greentree finished the night with two goals and two assists for the Spitfires while Protas also had a four-point night with four assists.
Costanzo stopped 14 shots for Windsor.
Game 2 is Saturday night in Windsor before the series shifts to the Sault for game three on Monday.