The Saginaw Spirit faced the Soo Greyhounds at the GFL Memorial Gardens for Game 3 of their second-round series. Jorian Donovan, Braden Haché, and Sebastien Gervais all scored their first playoff goals of the season as the Spirit defeated the Greyhounds, 7-2. Calem Mangone scored a pair including the game winner. Charlie Schenkel started in net for the Greyhounds saving 18 of 24 shots. At the other end, Nolan Lalonde stopped 21 of 23 shots on goal in his first playoff start of the season.
At 13:47, Jorian Donovan scored the first goal of the game, firing a wrister from between the faceoff circles right past Schenkel’s blocker. Matyas Sapovaliv and Rodwin Dionicio were both credited with assists on the game’s first tally.
AFTER 1: SAG 1 – 0 SOO (Total Shots: 8 – 14)
Just 13 seconds into the second, Alex Christopoulos scored another goal for the Spirit, extending their lead to 2-0. After intercepting a Greyhound pass in the neutral zone, Owen Beck passed to Josh Bloom who then passed up to Christopoulos in the slot. Christopoulos flipped the puck right over Schenkel’s shoulder for the goal.
The Soo Greyhounds scored their first goal of the night at 7:34. Gavin Hayes was the goal scorer on a netfront tap-in with Arttu Karki and Soo captain Bryce McConnell-Barker earned the assists.
At 9:25, Jordan D’Intino scored the game tying goal for the Greyhounds with Jacob Frasca receiving the assists.
Saginaw regained the lead thanks to Calem Mangone scoring a goal at 9:49. Zayne Parekh made a cross-ice pass to Mangone who smashed a shot from the rightfaceoff circle. The puck bounced off of Schenkel’s shoulder and in to give the Spirit the go-ahead goal.
AFTER 2: SAG 3 – 2 SOO (2nd Period Shots: 7 – 7 Total Shots: 15 – 21)
Rodwin Dionicio scored his first goal of the night at 4:21 with assists going to Josh Bloom and Owen Beck. Bloom passed to Dionicio on the right faceoff circle where he fired the puck just out of reach of Schenkel to give Spirit a 4-2 lead over the Greyhounds.
Saginaw wasn’t done as they’d score another goal at 14:26. Calem Mangone danced past two Soo defenders to collect the puck at the right half wall. He fired the puck from a steep angle, sending it into the right corner of the net. Both Lincoln Moore and Michael Misa were credited with the assist on this goal.
Captain Braden Haché scored his first of the postseason, an empty net goal, to give the Saginaw Spirit a 6-2 lead over the Soo Greyhounds.
Sebastien Gervais added a late powerplay goal to extend the Spirit lead to five goals. Nic Sima and Jorian Donovan picked up assists on the game’s last entry. Saginaw takes a 2-1 series lead into Game 4.
INAL: SAG 7 – 2 SOO (3rd Period Shots: 10 – 2 Total Shots: 25 – 23)
Powerplay: SAG 1/4, SOO 0/2
Goaltenders: SAG: Nolan Lalonde (21 Saves / 23 Shots, W ) – SOO: (18 Saves / 24 Shots, L)
Game 4 will take place at the GFL Memorial Gardens on April 17th. Puck drop is at 7:07pm.