The Soo Greyhounds will head into a home-and-home series with Sudbury on the heels of a loss following a 3-0 decision to the visiting Kitchener Rangers on Thursday night at Memorial Gardens.
The Rangers put together a solid road game as they snapped a five game losing skid with the victory and handed the Greyhounds a loss that dropped them back to the .500 mark at 16-16-5-1.
The Greyhounds held the Rangers at bay for much of the opening two periods thanks to another strong goaltending performance from 17 year-old netminder Kyle Gajewski, who stopped 39 shots including a Craig Voakes breakaway in the final minute of the first period.
Gajewski has been the Hounds starting goaltender since veteran Jakub Cech left for the World Junior Hockey Championships and has put up some solid efforts with Cech gone.
"He's the reason we had the chance to get a point from this game until five minutes left to go," Hounds coach Craig Hartsburg said of the play of his rookie netminder.
The two teams battled to a scoreless first period and it looked as though the second period would end in similar fashion.
That was until Patrick Davis, who picked up second star honours in the game, beat Gajewski in the final minute of the period on a setup from Evan McGrath and Adam Keefe.
In the third period, the Hounds had trouble battling back as the Rangers, who held a 32-17 shot advantage through two periods, held the Hounds to just six shots in the final frame.
But the Rangers were foiled themselves until Davis beat Gajewski for his second goal of the night at 17:14. David Clarkson sealed the win with 28 seconds left as he scored into an empty net to give the Rangers the 3-0 victory.
McGrath, a draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings, and Keefe each picked up two assists as they both assisted on the pair of goals by Davis.
Overshadowed by the strong performance from Gajewski was Rangers goaltender Dan Turple, who was acquired from the Oshawa Generals in a trade earlier this season. Turple turned aside 23 shots for the shutout as he was named the game's third star.
The game was played in front of 3,409 fans at Memorial Gardens. The crowd was the fourth largest of the season for the Greyhounds.
Hartsburg credited the Rangers following the game, but also said that his team did not compete and that's what led to the loss.
"Kitchener played a good strong game against us and we didn't compete hard enough," Hartsburg said. "To get out-competed and out-battled is unacceptable. (The Rangers) played a tight-checking game and we tried to play around it."
The power play was also a disappointment for the Hounds as they went 0-for-6.
"The power play all starts with winning faceoffs and loose puck battles," Hartsburg said. "When that happened we got some chances."
The Hounds played the game without the services of defenceman Jordan Smith and forward Blair Jarrett. Smith is beginning to feel better after having emergency surgery on the weekend but will not return to the lineup just yet. Jarrett, who is out with a knee injury, has been skating but likely will not play until Sunday night against Sudbury at the earliest.
The Hounds will hit the road for one game as they play the Sudbury Wolves in Sudbury on Friday night before returning home to play the Wolves again in the back half of a home-and-home series on Sunday night. Game time on Sunday is 7 p.m.
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In a game that the Greyhounds were keeping a close eye on, the Plymouth Whalers dropped a 5-4 overtime decision to the Sarnia Sting and gained a point on the Greyhounds in the race for top spot in the OHL's West Division.
Michael Haley converted a setup from Brad Efthimou 3:54 into overtime to give the Sting the win. Efthimou finished the game with three goals and an assist. His three goals came just 2:08 apart in the second period. John Mitchell had a goal and an assist for the Whalers.
In another game of interest to the Greyhounds, Brad Richardson had a pair of goals as well as two assists as the Owen Sound Attack knocked off the Windsor Spitfires by a 6-0 score. Bobby Ryan also chipped in with three assists in the victory.
Adam Berti had two goals and an assist while Peter Tsimikalis added two assists and former Greyhound Brett Trudell added a goal and an assist as the Oshawa Generals defeated the Belleville Bulls 6-2. Marc Rancourt had a goal and an assist for Belleville in the loss.
Trevor Hendrikx had a three point night with a goal and a pair of assists as the Peterborough Petes and Barrie Colts battled to a 5-5 tie. Bryan Little, Travis Fuller and former Greyhound Rob Hisey each had a goal and an assist for Barrie while Colts netminder Francois Thuot stopped 41 shots.
The Ottawa 67's and Kingston Frontenacs played in front of a CHL-record crowd of 20,081 at the Corel Centre in Ottawa. The Frontenacs spoiled the party though as Todd Griffith scored just over six minutes into the third period to give the Frontenacs a 6-5 victory.
Griffith had a pair of goals as well as an assist in the win while Blake Pronk also had two goals for Kingston. Brad Bonello had a goal and three assists for Ottawa.
Daniel Girardi had a pair of assists and Adam Dennis stopped 32 shots for the shutout as the Guelph Storm defeated Toronto 3-0. Mike McLean, Ryan Card and Kyle Spurr scored in the victory.