Another loss to cap a tough road trip for the Attack.
Marco Mignosa and Noah Laus scored power play goals 1:02 apart near the end of the second period, to help the Soo Greyhounds pull away in a 6-4 win over the Owen Sound Attack in Ontario Hockey League action Sunday afternoon at GFL Memorial Gardens.
Pierce Mbuyi scored twice, and Harry Nansi and Wesley Royston also had goals for the Attack (17-14-0-3), which lost their fourth straight game.
The Attack dropped all three over its three-game trip through Barrie, Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie, picking up only one of six possible points.
“Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. So you have to put your nose down and work,” Attack Head Coach Scott Wray says. “At the same time, we said in there it has to be fixed within. It can’t be the ‘me first mentality’ and taking those penalties when we’re in a hockey game.”
Christopher Brown had a goal and four points for Soo (20-10-1-1), which won its fifth straight game. Callum Croskery, Tobias Zvolensky and Brady Smith also scored.
The Greyhounds opened up a 2-2 game late in the second period with two power play goals. With John Banks already off after taking an interference penalty, David Bedkowski was given a minor for slashing to send Soo to a 23 second 5-on-3.
They capitalized quickly to take a 3-2 lead. Brown got the puck near the goal-line and then sent a back-post pass, cross-crease – which was shot into the empty net by Mignosa with 1:49 left in the second.
The Greyhounds remained on the power play and would score again 1:18 later, and essentially the same play. Pass down low, Jordan Charron takes it, sends it back post and this time is was Noah Laus with the shot into the empty-net to make it 4-2.
Soo would extend its lead five minutes into the third. Zvolensky took a wrist shot from high in the zone that beat Matthew Koprowski five-hole.
The Attack answered with a power play goal, cutting Soo’s lead to 5-3. Tristan Delisle directed the puck towards the net, and Mbuyi was waiting near the crease and beat Landon Miller as the Greyhounds’ goaltender slid to his left – scoring his second of the game at 7:23 of the third to cut the lead.
Then late in the third, the Attack got another power play opportunity and after getting the puck into the zone – Koprowski went to the bench to make it a 6-on-4. But the Greyhounds had a quick zone exit with a bank off the board that sent Smith off to the races up the left wing. His empty-net goal with 2:41 remaining made it 6-3 Greyhounds.
Nansi would capitalize on a turnover and scored at 18:50 to bring the Attack back within two. But that was as close as they’d get.
Miller made 18 saves in the win, while Koprowski stopped 26 taking the loss. The Greyhounds outshot the Attack 33-22 while going 2 for 2 on the power play; Owen Sound finished 2 for 6.
A pair of Midwest Division games await the Attack this week ahead of the OHL Christmas break. Wednesday, the London Knights are in town at the Bayshore. And then Friday, the Attack head on the road to face Kitchener.
“They’re massive (games). They’re four point games and you want to go into Christmas feeling good about yourselves,” Wray says. “We’ve got to scratch and claw. We’ve got to great opponents and we have to prepare for them.”
TWO GO DOWN
The Attack lost a pair of forwards to injuries in Sunday’s game against Soo. Noah Nelson exited the game with a lower-body ailment. And Max Delisle crashed hard into the boards and left the ice favouring one of his arms. Neither returned and could miss time.
HALFWAY HOME
Sunday’s game was No. 34 of 68 for the Owen Sound Attack, and at the half way point they’ve won exactly half their games. Owen Sound’s four-game slide has dropped them to 17-14-0-3, that’s 17 wins and 17 losses – with the back half of the regular season schedule in queue.
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