It’s been a struggle all season and on Wednesday night, it played a role in the outcome of a game for the Soo Greyhounds.
Entering play on Wednesday, the Greyhounds had just a single power play goal through seven games and 23 man advantage opportunities and that trend continued as the team went 0-for-5 in a 3-1 loss on the road to the Sudbury Wolves.
Among the power play chances for the Greyhounds was a short 5-on-3 that was part of a major penalty given to Sudbury’s Blake Clayton at the end of the second period that the visitors couldn’t capitalize on.
“The power play was bad,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said when asked his assessment of the game. “There’s moments where we need to be better, there’s no doubt about that.”
“The story of the game is special teams for sure,” Dean added. “On a night where you’re struggling to find offence against a team that just throws the puck out of the zone on a whim and rims a lot of pucks out so it’s tough to get O-zone time against a team that plays that way.”
Dean also offered up some thoughts on exactly why the Greyhounds power play has struggled as much as it has through eight games.
“I don’t think we look like a unit,” Dean said of the Greyhounds power play. “We look like individuals. You have to have a gameplan on the power play and be creative inside that gameplan.”
“You have to work harder on the power play than you do five-on-five,” Dean added.
Dean added that the major penalty and the 5-on-3 “shows our inexperience.”
“(On the 5-on-3), we didn’t shoot a single puck,” Dean said.
“The coaches have a lot of solve for us and we have to execute it,” said veteran forward Justin Cloutier.
In an interview with Eastlink TV following the victory, Wolves forward Kocha Delic credited Sudbury’s compete level in the win.
“Our compete,” Delic said. “That’s something that our coaches have been preaching hard and we were playing good in the offensive zone and the defensive zone especially. That’s what helped us.”
The Wolves wasted little time getting on the board in the game as Alex Pharand opened the scoring 90 seconds into the contest, beating Greyhounds goaltender Charlie Schenkel on a rebound in close after the netminder stopped a shot by Sudbury’s Braydon Bruce initially.
The Greyhounds came back just under three minutes later and tied the game as Justin Cloutier went to the net and took a pass from Brady Martin before beating Wolves netminder Finn Marshall moments after a neutral zone turnover by Sudbury.
The game remained tied at one until Kieron Walton gave the Wolves the lead for good at 8:14 of the second period. Walton potted a loose puck on the power play after Schenkel made a pair of saves initially on the play, stopping Chase Coughlan and Nick DeAngelis before Walton capitalized.
The Wolves capped off the scoring in the final minute as Pharand scored into an empty net with 19 seconds to go in the third period.
Schenkel made 33 saves for the Greyhounds in the loss.
In addition to the two-goal night from Pharand, Walton had a goal and an assist for the Wolves in the victory while Marshall made 19 saves.
The Greyhounds fall to 3-5-0-0 with the loss while Sudbury improves to 5-3-0-0.
The Greyhounds now return home for a stretch of four consecutive games on home ice, beginning Friday night when the team hosts the Flint Firebirds.