A masterful performance from Carter George kept the Attack around, and then they found a way to win it.
Cole Zurawski scored the overtime winner as Carter George starred with 39 saves, including denying a 2-on-0 in overtime as the Attack rallied from two down in the third to defeat the Soo Greyhounds 4-3 in Ontario Hockey League action at GFL Memorial Gardens Sunday afternoon.
Lenny Greenberg had a goal and two assists for the Attack (20-30-4-3), while Pierce Mbuyi and James Petrovski also scored.
Marco Mignosa, Christopher Brown and Brady R Smith scored for Soo (22-32-1-1).
George was in top form for the Attack, who were heavily outshot 36-10 through the first 40 minutes before putting a push on in the third.
His last big save only the most memorable on an afternoon where there were too many big ones to count, as the Attack goaltender slid left and right denying chance after chance – and threw his glove up multiple times to turn aside Soo scoring opportunities through the first two periods of constant Greyhounds pressure.
That last big save, in overtime, a 2-on-0 rush for the Greyhounds. Noel Nordh and Brady Martin broke into the zone with near-unlimited time, and passed it back and forth multiple times – before Martin got a shot away on the right side near the crease. George was already down with both legs extended to take away the lower half of the net, and kept with it to use his glove and deny the chance.
Not long after it was over. Greenberg advanced the puck to Zurawski on the right-wing in the neutral zone, and the rookie forward took it over the blue line, toe-dragged the puck in the high slot and then unleashed a laser shot that beat Landon Miller high with 1:05 to go in overtime.
“He’s unreal,” Zurawski says of his goaltender George. “Having that goalie in the net for us, it definitely calms me down a little bit because I know when I make a mistake he’s always there to bail me out. And he damn sure bailed us out tonight.”
“My coaches have been telling me to shoot,” Zurawski continues. “I think that was in my mind in the overtime shift I got and it happened to go in. It felt amazing.”
Soo led 3-1 going into the third period. Petrovski got a point shot through traffic and past Miller at 10:17 to cut the lead to 3-2. Then it was Mbuyi scoring the game tying goal with 4:46 left in regulation, taking a pass from Landen Hookey out front and burying a shot past Miller glove side.
The Attack had to survive a late power play for the Greyhounds. Tristan Delisle was called for cross-checking with 34.8 seconds remaining in regulation. Petrovski made a strong desperation play after the defensive zone draw, lunging for a loose puck inside the blueline and poking it out of the zone before Ben Cormier skated it down the ice to help kill off the rest of the clock in regulation.
Brady R Martin scored the lone goal of the first, as George faced a heavy workload and dazzled in the Attack crease as the Soo outshot Owen Sound 24-4 in the opening 20 minutes.
It was a 2-0 game just over two minutes into the second. Brady T Smith put the puck towards the net and it was deflected off a skate behind the Owen Sound goal, and picked up without breaking stride by Christopher Brown. He wrapped the puck around past George as the goaltender slid back to his left.
The Attack would answer just over a minute later on their one and only power play of the game. After an offensive zone faceoff win, Declan Waddick got the puck to Greenberg at the blueline, and the defenceman sent a low, seeing-eye shot to the net and past the right pad of Miller to cut the Greyhounds’ lead to 2-1.
It was Greenberg’s first goal with the Attack, and first in the OHL. The El Segundo, California native joined the Attack last month from the Alberni Valley Bulldogs of the British Columbia Hockey League after David Bedkowski went down to injury.
He has been playing a noticeably more prominent role in recent games, and put in his best offensive performance from the blueline for the Attack Sunday afternoon with a pair of assists to go along with his first OHL goal.
The Greyhounds had a would-be 3-1 goal called back for an offside, before Mignosa restored the two-goal lead with 2:55 left in the second. Soo’s leading scorer picked off a clearing attempt and then broke down the left side of the offensive zone and cut towards the net, moving the puck backhand-to-forehand and put a high shot in tight over the glove of George.
George made 39 saves in the win, while Miller stopped 23 taking the loss. The Greyhounds outshot the Attack 42-27 while going 0 for 6 on the power play; Owen Sound was 1 for 1.
Next up for the Attack is a home game Wednesday evening against the Niagara Ice Dogs (27-22-3-4) at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre. Niagara has lost 10 in a row.
THE PLAYOFF PICTURE
Here’s how the five-team battle unfolding for the No. 6, No. 7 and No. 8 playoff spots in the OHL’s Western Conference looks after Sunday’s action.
Flint (23-27-2-3) remains alone in sixth with 51 points, they are two points up on the seventh-place Sarnia Sting (19-26-4-7), who lost to North Bay Sunday. Owen Sound and Soo are tied with 47 points, with the Soo sitting in eighth for the moment with the regulation or overtime wins tiebreaker over the Attack. Both the Greyhounds and Attack are two points back of Sarnia in seventh. And No. 10 Guelph is only three points behind Owen Sound and Soo, with three games in hand on both of them.
So to recap, Sunday’s win brought the Attack level with Soo at 47 points, and brought them within two points of seventh-place Sarnia, and four points of sixth-place Flint. Eleven games to go for Owen Sound.