Stopping 26 of 30 Orrsmen shots on net, Smith gave up a soft goal to Jack Eichel with just twenty-nine seconds elapsed in the third period, that gave Parry Sound a 3-1 lead on home ice.
"We knew the play they were trying to set up, they'd been trying it all game. We saw it in the video meeting we had earlier today. I knew where Eichel would be standing when he took his shot and I knew where he would try and beat me. I have to stop that shot. There's no excuses. None.", said Smith.
Musicmen Jason Pominville cut the deficit down to one goal two minutes later when he stripped the puck from Parry Sound defenseman Morgan Reilly and then beat goalie Mike Condon with a wrist shot over his blocker.
Dayton held an advantage in shots but took five consecutive minor penalties starting with Drew Stafford's minor for holding at 3:40 of the third. One by one, another penalty was called against Dayton and eventually, Eichel scored the game's only power play goal at 11:15 of the final period to give the Orrsmen a 4-2 lead they would not relinquish.
"We've got to be more disciplined in these kind of games. The had the puck almost the whole third period, we're trying to kill off all those penalties and they out shot us by just two that period. We'd won 4 out of 5 games while those guys had lost ten straight. That was a game we should've won.
Said Stafford.
General Manager Bill Corfield wasn't happy Dayton lost the game of course, but did find the battle level to be a good starting place. "We've been harder to play against the last two weeks or so and the moves we made yesterday are consistent with what we're expecting to see in the future. We need the guys playing hard every shift and making good decisions. We tied them in hits tonight. They scored on 1 of their 4 power plays, we killed them on face-offs, It was a good game. As we get some younger kids up here next year with better offensive skills, it'll come together.
What's next:
Dayton travels to Portland for their next game on Tuesday night.
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