Late-game breakdowns lead to overtime loss for Greyhounds

Facing one of the top teams in the league, coming away with a point is a plus but surrendering a pair of leads in the third period was frustrating.

The Soo Greyhounds held a pair of leads in the final 20 minutes but dropped a 5-4 overtime decision to the North Bay Battalion in Ontario Hockey League action on Thursday night.

The Battalion got a goal late in regulation time to force the extra period before Brandon Coe scored the winner early in overtime.

Greyhounds coach John Dean agreed following the game that the team felt like they left a point on the table.

“I didn’t think we played a bad third period,” Dean said. “It was a good period by both teams and a good hockey game. We had a breakdown on the fourth goal. Their power play was really strong tonight and they scored a nice power play goal (early in the period). That’s two good hockey teams playing.”

Veteran forward Rory Kerins said the difference in the third period was “unnecessary mistakes” and felt the game shouldn’t have got to overtime.

“We made mistakes that were really under our control,” Kerins added. “They capitalized on our mistakes.”

“Anytime you’re up against a good team in the third, you want to close it you,” added overage blueliner Robert Calisti. “There were a couple of turnovers and a couple of mistakes that ended up in the back of our net.”

Battalion coach Ryan Oulahen said the North Bay penalty kill was important, specifically later in the game.

“The penalty kill was huge when it needed to be with a couple of big ones there late in the game to make sure that it didn’t get out of hand,” Oulahen said in an interview with BayToday.

Mitchell Russell opened the scoring for North Bay as he attempted to go cross-crease with a pass and had the puck deflect in off Greyhounds goaltender Tucker Tynan at 7:28 of the opening period.

With 2:31 to go in the period and the Greyhounds on a two-man advantage, Tanner Dickinson got the puck, skated into the left faceoff circle and beat Battalion goaltender Joe Vrbetic short side to tie the game.

On the power play, North Bay took a 2-1 lead early in the second period when Josh Currie took a cross ice pass in the right circle from Simon Rose and beat Tynan at 3:17.

Calisti tied the game for the Greyhounds at 8:06 when he took a pass from Rory Kerins and beat Vrbetic from the point after the puck hit a body on its way to the net.

The Greyhounds would take the lead for the first time n the contest at 14:54 when Tye Kartye took a drop pass from Kerins just inside the North Bay blueline and beat Vrbetic with a shot from the high slot with the teams playing 4-on-4.

Liam Arnsby tied the game for North Bat at 7:41 of the third when he redirected a pass from Matvey Petrov past Tynan from the top of the crease.

Bryce McConnell-Barker restored the lead for the Greyhounds at 11:06 of the third when he beat a North Bay player at the blueline and skated into the left circle where he beat Vrbetic high short (stick) side.

North Bay tied the game again at 16:18 when Petrov found himself in the slot and took a pass from Coe and then outwaited Tynan.

Coe got the winner at 1:10 of the extra frame when he moved into the right faceoff circle and beat Tynan stick side.

Kerins finished the night with three assists for the Greyhounds while rookie blueliner Connor Toms had a pair of helpers.

Tynan made 29 saves for the visitors.

“He was great,” Dean said. “He played exceptionally well. He’s always in good spots, whether it’s an odd-man rush or an even-man rush or during O-zone play. He has really good hockey I.Q. I really like the way he battles and I loved his presence on our bench. During the TV timeouts, he was very vocal, very supportive of his teammates.”

Both Calisti and Kerins credited Tynan following his first appearance with the Greyhounds after being acquired from Niagara earlier in the week.

“He’s a great goalie,” Kerins said.

“He made some key saves (in the first period),” Calisti said, adding that “we feel really comfortable with him in net.”

Petrov assisted on three goals for the Battalion while Russell added two helpers.

Avery Winslow assisted on a pair of North Bay goals.

Vrbetic made 26 stops for North Bay.

The Greyhounds record sits at 14-9-1-0 with the loss while North Bay improves to 16-7-1-1.

The Greyhounds played Thursday’s contest minus defenceman Ryan O’Rourke, who is attending the selection camp for the Canadian National Junior Team.

Tyler Savard and Kalvyn Watson also remain out and Dean said neither player will play on the road next weekend.

Dean said he’s hopeful that both players will be able to get into the lineup relatively soon after the Christmas break.

With the scheduled games against the Sudbury Wolves this weekend in Sudbury postponed due to the COVID situation with the Wolves, the Greyhounds will not return to the ice until Dec. 16 when it opens a short two-game road trip at the WFCU Centre in Windsor against the Spitfires.

The team will then travel to Kitchener to face the Rangers the following night for its final game before breaking for Christmas.

In other news around the league, former Greyhounds forward Alex Johnston, who was put on waivers earlier this season as the team settled its overage situation, has joined the Ottawa 67’s.

Prior to joining the 67’s, Johnston played a pair of games in the BCHL with the Nanaimo Clippers.