Hounds down, but not out of it

By Tom Williams

The defending CHL champs have a 3-0 series lead.

YOUNGSTOWN — An eerie sense of deja vu has gathered over the Chevrolet Centre ice.

The last four hockey games played there have been between the SteelHounds and the Colorado Eagles, the defending champions of the Central Hockey League.

In all four games, the Eagles have started strong, earning early leads. And the SteelHounds have responded with second-period comebacks to make the games close.

But unlike the final three regular season games where the SteelHounds rallied for wins, the home team stumbled Tuesday, falling 4-1 to trail three games to none in their best-of-7 CHL playoff series.

So far, this series resembles last year’s matchup where the Eagles won the first three games before the SteelHounds rallied for two wins.

With their backs against the wall, the SteelHounds are hoping the repeat trend continues when they face off with the Eagles tonight at 7:05.

If the SteelHounds win, Game 5 will be played Friday at 7:05 p.m.

SteelHounds coach Kevin Kaminski says his team can’t afford to look that far ahead.

“Right now, it’s got to be one game at a time, one shift at a time,” Kaminski said. “Every one has to win every shift.

”We don’t want to reinvent the wheel — we know our foundation, we know our systems, we just have to go execute them.”

Regaining the confidence earned from going 5-1 down the stretch is vital.

“We’ve got to come here with a mindset of believing we can win this,” Kaminski said. “I think we’re giving them too much respect. I know they are the champions, but we’ve got to get back to grinding it out. We can’t have any passengers.”

Tuesday, Chris Richards’ power-play goal late in the first period tied Game 3, 1-1.

The turning point came in the second period when Eagles captain Greg Pankewicz beat SteelHounds goalie Andy Franck with a slapshot.

“I’m sure Andy would like to have that one back,” Kaminski said.

Colorado coach Chris Stewart said, “It’s not the first time I’ve seen that pattern — down the wall, then take the shot and it’s in the back of the net.”

Pankewicz said his shot “was low blocker, a little bit off the ice just inside the post. I just [reached] back and fired it.”

Pankewicz said his team has to guard against overconfidence.

“We’re up 3-nothing but it [doesn’t] mean a thing,” said Pankewicz who scored twice and set up a third goal.

“These guys can battle and have great goaltending. We have to stay focused — the hardest game to win is that last one.

“Let’s not kid ourselves — we’re up against a tough hockey team that plays extremely hard every shift in and shift out,” said Pankewicz of the SteelHounds. “They reflect how their coach used to play and how he coaches. You’ve got to come prepared to battle these guys because it’s not easy.”

Stewart expects another tight game.

“Come Thursday night, it will only get harder. They are going to have a big crowd,” Stewart said. “I expect the game to be tougher than it was [Tuesday].”

Kaminski said he hopes to see a stronger effort that extends the season.

“I don’t think we paid the price [Tuesday] to play in traffic,” Kaminski said, “They did a good job with their sticks of breaking up a lot of plays. “They did break up a lot of plays with good sticks in the passing lanes,” said Kaminski of the Eagles. “But that’s where you’ve got to have that second effort, muck it out, use every ounce of your body to pay the price to score goals.”

williams@vindy.com