IceDogs bounce back versus Greyhounds
The Niagara IceDogs scored early and often en route to a convincing victory of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds Thursday night in St. Catharines.
The IceDogs jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the first period and then cruised to a 7-2 victory in Ontario Hockey League action.
The win improved Niagara’s record to 14-7 and put an end to a brief, two-game losing streak.
IceDogs coach Ben Boudreau, who was given the heave-ho Sunday in a 6-3 loss to Brantford, was naturally in a much better frame of mind following this one.
“It’s tough to play a perfect season,” Boudreau said. “We have really had setbacks and you can call it what you want but the story of the season so far has been resilience. I know it kind of gets redundant saying the same thing, but you’ve got a group that wanted it.
“It was more will versus skill tonight. And we knew that we had to find a way to solve our penalty kill and we went six-for-six.”
The IceDogs went up 5-0 after two which led to a sloppy third period.
“We kind of went on our heels and when it’s 5-0 it’s a natural tendency (to back off) and we took a lot of penalties in that second half of the game but for the first 30 you could almost tell before we even hit the ice we were ready to play,” Boudreau said.
Goaltender Owen Flores was surprisingly busy for such a lopsided game, kicking out 43 saves and earning third star of the game honours. The overage netminder lost his chance at a shutout 34 seconds into the third when Marco Mignosa slipped a shot under Flores’ arm.
“There’s a natural tendency and there was a lot of learning lessons tonight, especially on that second half of the game,” Boudreau. “You know you have to learn on how to win the game and when you get up everybody cares about statistics. It’s natural. I mean that’s what drives us all but at the same time the goalie has statistics that need all five guys in front of them to buy in and play well. Flo’s done so well that you really wanted to find a way to close it out for him.”
Both Mike Levin and Andrei Loshko netted hat-tricks for Niagara. Levin’s third came on the penalty kill late in the game on an empty net when the Greyhounds pulled their goalie despite a four-goal deficit.
“Levin’s been working really hard,” Boudreau said. “Last year the one thing I recognized is he was a player that would trend up or down and go in waves and when he was hot he was hot, when he was cold he was cold. I think he went on a little bit of a cold stretch there not scoring in awhile, especially what he was compared to, but now this is his third game in a row and he’s found a way to hit the back of the net, so you’ve got to ride a hot hand.”
Levin doubled his goal output to six with the hat-trick.
Loshko’s three goals give him 13 on the season and the overage import now has 13 goals and 29 points in 21 games.
“I remember, especially our management and ownership saying, your OAs have to be your best players and Loshko has been easily our best player down the middle,” Boudreau said. “Defensively, I think he’s been one of our best players. I think he’s been a standout as far as newcomer and how much energy he’s injected into the lineup and his professionalism on and off the ice.”
Boudreau indicated Flores would start again in net Friday in Brampton.
Ice cubes: Charlie Robertson, Alex Assadourian, Kevin He, Mathieu Paris and Nick Frasca did not dress for the IceDogs . . . Keegan Gillen, Owen Allard, Brayden Velliaris and Erik Muxlow were scratched for SSM . . . Former Niagara forward Luca Caputi was in attendance. Caputi is now a scout for the Vancouver Canucks.
STATS PACK
IceDogs 7 Greyhounds 2
Niagara’s Mike Levin and Sault Ste. Marie’s Jordan Charron.
Niagara IceDogs: Andrei Loshko 3 (11,12,13); Mike Levin 3 (4,5,6); Ivan Galiyanov (4).
Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds: Marco Mignosa (7); Tate Vader (1).
Game stats: Shots on goal: By Niagara on Landon Miller (38), by SSM on Owen Flores (45); Power plays: Niagara 1/6, SSM 0/6; Penalty minutes: Niagara 12, SSM 12.
Attendance: 2,591.
Next up: The IceDogs are in Brampton Friday and back home against Sudbury Saturday for the Teddy Bear Toss.
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