"Le Capitaine" Damien Giroux scores OT game winner to give Spirit 4-3 victory over Soo Greyhounds

A missed whistle on a delayed penalty caught the Spirit off guard leading to a Soo goal to force overtime, but the Saginaw captain got revenge with his OT game winner at 2:47 of the extra session...

    icon Oct 18, 2019
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Saginaw, MI:
 
 
The Saginaw Spirit (6-4-1-0) got some sweet revenge for a Sep. 28, home loss (6-4) to western conference rivals the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds (and revenge for a mistake by a referee) when Saginaw captain Damien Giroux (11) broke a 3-3 tie, beating Soo goal tender Christian Propp with a shot from the right circle for a 4-3 Spirit OT victory on a feed from defenseman Ilya Solovyov at 2:47 of overtime at GFL Memorial Gardens in Sault Ste Marie, ON Wednesday night.
 
 
With Saginaw protecting a 3-2 lead late in the game, the referee had raised his hand on a delayed Spirit penalty when Giroux (who was clearly expecting a whistle) lightly dumped the puck into the corner, but there was no whistle and with the Saginaw players caught off guard, Soo defenseman Holden Wale (2) picked up a pass and fired the puck past Spirit goal tender Tristan Lennox to tie the game at 3-goals apiece at 12:08 of the third period.
 
 
There was no review, not even a discussion among the officiating crew to make the correct call.   
 
 
The Spirit had jumped out to an early lead, taking advantage of a Greyhounds holding penalty midway through the opening frame when Saginaw forward Cole Coskey (8) converted the power play goal for his eighth tally of the season from Solovyov and Blade Jenkins for a 1-0 Spirit lead at 10:09 of the first period.
 
 
The Hounds answered late in the middle frame when Soo forward Cole MacKay (5) knotted the game at 1-goal apiece at 17:48 of the second, but the Spirit would regain the lead just 18-seconds later when Saginaw forward Jake Goldowski (3) scored his third of the season from Cole Perfetti and Jenkins at the 18:06 mark, giving the Spirit a 2-1 lead heading into the second intermission.  
 
 
Saginaw started to pull away from the Soo early in the final frame after Giroux (10) scored his first of the night with assists coming from Solovyov and DJ Busdeker for a 3-1 lead at 1:05 of the third, but recently signed Soo defenseman Billy Constantinou (who just joined the Hounds in a trade with the Kingston Frontenacs on Tuesday afternoon) scored to cut the Spirit lead to 3-2 at 7:50 of the third period, just prior to the incident on the delayed penalty.
 
 
The Spirit will now return home for a pair of weekend games; welcoming the North Bay Battalion (3-6-0-0) for a 7:05 pm face off Friday, before hosting the Kitchener Rangers (5-1-1-2) who are currently in a three-way tie for first with the Spirit and the Owen Sound Attack (6-2-0-1) the following night at the Dow Event Center for a 7:05 pm face off on Saturday.

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