The Soo Greyhounds’ bid to close out their opening-round OHL series hit a snag on Wednesday night
At playoff time in any league, it’s not uncommon to hear that the fourth win of a seven-game series is sometimes the toughest to get.
The Soo Greyhounds learned that on Wednesday night as they took the ice for game four of their opening round Ontario Hockey League playoff series with the London Knights at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
After winning the opening three games, including back-to-back games in overtime, the Greyhounds dropped game four Wednesday by a 4-1 score, sending the series to a fifth game on Friday night.
Greyhounds coach John Dean said he felt his team didn’t match London’s determination in the game.
“We didn’t expect the London Knights to roll over, that’s for sure,” Dean said. “They played a really good, solid game. They played a desperate brand and they’re very structurally sound and in good spots and they were able to capitalize on our mistakes tonight.”
The game was a struggle for the Greyhounds on the man advantage with the home team going 0-for-6 on the night.
“We want to score goals. It’s important that we’re effective in that department, but the number one thing is we can’t give the opposition momentum,” Dean said. “Their kill drove momentum for them in a good way and right after a tough power play, they go and score. It was a little bit tough in that department tonight.”
Dean added that he felt the power play was “a little casual” in the game.
“We want a power play that attacks,” Dean added. “It’s consistently threatening the net and making the opposition defend. We were a little bit slow and casual and ultimately, it cost us.”
Knights assistant coach Rick Steadman credited a small group that was important to the London penalty kill in the win.
“It’s a credit to them. Those guys, it’s only about seven or eight guys that were going out there and they just battled hard,” Steadman said. “They didn’t quit. They blocked shots. They sacrificed their body and they did it for each other.”
The Greyhounds opened the scoring at 6:55 of the opening period as Quinn McKenzie beat Knights goaltender Aleksei Medvedev on a wraparound to the stick side to give the Greyhounds a 1-0 lead.
London got on the board in the second period moments after killing off a penalty. Jacob Vandeven came out of the box and got the puck from William Nicholl. Vandeven skated down the right wing and beat Greyhounds goaltender Carter George 5-hole to tie the game at 6:51.
The Knights took a 2-1 lead at 13:41 thanks to a power play goal by Ryan Brown, who scored on a rebound in close after stops by George on Cohen Bidgood and William Nicholl initially on the play.
The visitors extended the lead in the third period as Brown was sent in on a breakaway pass from defenceman Caleb Mitchell and beat George on a backhand with 5:02 to go in regulation time.
Brown would cap off the hattrick with 3:03 to go, scoring into an empty Sault net.
George made 22 saves for the Greyhounds in the loss.
Nicholl chipped in with a pair of assists offensively for London in addition to the three-goal game from Brown.
Making his first start of the series for the Knights, Medvedev made 25 saves in the victory.
“He was great,” Steadman said. “He’s definitely had some adversity (this season), but he came in and he stepped up big time. He made some really big saves in key moments for us (and) stood tall on the penalty kill.”
Steadman said the decision to use Medvedev in Wednesday’s contest was in part to give Sebastian Gatto some rest after a heavy workload in the previous two games in the series.
“The shot attempts in the last two games for Gatto were around 90,” Steadman said. “That’s just a lot of battling for him.”
The series shifts to London for game five on Friday night. If necessary, game six is scheduled for Sunday night in the Sault.
On the injury front for the Greyhounds, forward Christopher Brown missed his second consecutive game due to an upper body injury. Dean said Brown is day-to-day and could potentially play Friday night.
The Knights were minus defenceman Linus Funck and forward Braiden Clark due to injuries on Wednesday night.
