Marco Mignosa delivered another defining performance for the Soo Greyhounds on Thursday night
Just how important has Marco Mignosa been to the Soo Greyhounds this season?
“Marco Mignosa’s the MVP of the league. It’s not even close,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said of the overage forward on Thursday night.
The comment came shortly after the veteran forward scored three times, including the overtime winner, as the Greyhounds grabbed a crucial Ontario Hockey League victory on the road against the Windsor Spitfires Thursday night.
Mignosa was the difference as the Greyhounds beat the Spitfires 4-3 in overtime at Windsor’s WFCU Centre.
“Considering how we’ve been riddled with injuries over the course of the season, the number of linemates he’s had, what he’s had to do on the (penalty) kill for us, we’ve leaned on him so much this season,” Dean added. “All he does is come through in the clutch.”
“He’s definitely a massive part of our offence and our leadership,” added forward Brady Martin. “Just the way he plays, it’s huge for us. He’s carried us a long way this season.”
Mignosa’s game-winner came on an odd-man rush started by goaltender Carter George.
The netminder got the puck up ice, sending Mignosa, Martin, and Lukas Fischer in on a 3-on-1 that ended with Mignosa going to the net and redirecting a pass from Martin past Windsor goaltender Joey Costanzo to give the visitors the win.
Mignosa called the pass that George made to get the play started “massive.”
“It gave us that 3-on-1, so a lot of credit goes to him,” Mignosa added.
In a game that saw the Spitfires jump out to an early lead on the shot clock through the opening 10 minutes of the game, Dean was pleased with his team throughout the contest.
“We were extremely engaged,” Dean said. “The first 10 minutes, we’re heavily outshot, but we didn’t feel like we felt in the Guelph and Flint games where we felt like execution was really poor and we felt like we were getting heavily outplayed. We just through a very good Windsor team had a very good first 10 and we weathered that storm.
“I really like our next 50 minutes,” Dean added. “I liked our forechecks. I liked our hunts. We still gave up probably more than we’d like. (Windsor) is so structured and well-coached that if you slip up, they counter in such an electric way that we still gave up some chances, but that’s junior hockey.”
Windsor got the scoring started thanks to a power play goal in the opening period.
Anthony Cristoforo scored on a loose puck after Windsor forward Jack Nesbitt was hit with a point shot by Spitfires forward Liam Greentree at 9:17.
The Greyhounds would tie the game 2:51 later as Martin took a pass from Mignosa on a 3-on-2 rush and beat Costanzo glove side from the right side of the slot.
Mignosa grabbed his first goal of the night four minutes into the second period, taking a pass in the right faceoff circle from Jakub Winkelhofer and beating Costanzo glove side on the power play.
Windsor tied the game just 45 seconds later, also on the power play as Cristoforo scored his second of the night, beating Greyhounds goaltender Carter George on a rebound after the Sault netminder stopped Greentree initially on the play.
The Spitfires took a 3-2 lead at 10:51 moments after a Greyhounds turnover in the Windsor zone. After the turnover, Beksultan Makysh hit Caden Harvey with a pass and the latter proceeded to beat George glove side on a breakaway.
With the teams playing 4-on-4, Mignosa would tie the game for the Greyhounds as he took a pass from Callum Croskery and went to the net before beating Costanzo with a backhand to make it a 3-3 game at 9:09 of the third.
Mignosa factored into all four goals for the Greyhounds in the win, scoring three times and assisting on the other.
Martin had a goal and an assist in the victory.
“We played the way we know how,” Mignosa said of the Greyhounds top line which included him, Martin, and Travis Hayes. “We had a really good triangle in the offensive zone. We used the net for cycles. Trav and Marty are dogs. They did a lot of work down low, and it worked out well for us.”
On a night when the line factored into all of the Greyhounds scoring Martin added that there are nights “when you’ve got to be the best players on the ice and you’ve got to put the team on your shoulders and play to the best of your ability.”
George made 27 saves for the Greyhounds.
In addition to the two-goal night for Cristoforo, Greentree and Nesbitt assisted on two goals each.
Costanzo stopped 22 shots for the Spitfires.
Next up for the Greyhounds is a Friday night game on the road against the Flint Firebirds before the team returns home for a Sunday afternoon contest against the Brantford Bulldogs.
The Greyhounds will take a 38-19-1-5 record into Friday’s matchup with Flint. The team moves three points ahead of the London Knights for fourth in the OHL’s Western Conference with the Knights having Thursday night off before returning to action on Friday night at home against the Guelph Storm.
Both the Greyhounds and Knights have played 63 games heading into their respective games Friday.
With the single point from Thursday’s contest against the Greyhounds, Windsor pulls to within a point of the Firebirds for top spot in the OHL’s West Division and holds a record of 40-15-6-2.
The Spitfires are also slated to return to action on Friday as the team travels to Sarnia to take on the Sting.
On the injury front for the Greyhounds, defenceman Brodie McConnell-Barker is out week to week due to an illness while forward Colin Fitzgerald is week to week with an upper body injury.
Chase Reid also remains out for the Greyhounds due to injury.