SteelHounds remain alive

By Tom Williams

Ryan Bennett’s two goals led Youngstown to a 5-2 playoff victory.

YOUNGSTOWN — Staring into the brink of season-ending elimination, the Youngstown SteelHounds responded with a greasy, gritty performance that had coach Kevin Kaminski beaming.

A four-goal second period plus plenty of fisticuffs propelled the SteelHounds to a 5-2 win over the Colorado Eagles, extending their best-of-7 playoff series to tonight’s Game 5 at the Chevrolet Centre. Face-off is at 7:05 p.m.

Ryan Bennett’s two goals, Mark Odut’s shorthanded tally and rookie goaltender Kevin Beech’s first professional playoff win helped the SteelHounds reduce the Eagles’ series advantage to 3-1.

“That was ’Hound Hockey,” Kaminski said after his team snapped Colorado’s three-game winning streak. “That’s the way we’ve been successful. We threw everything at them tonight and obviously we had to.”

Three goals in the first 11 minutes of the second period restored the swagger that the SteelHounds had lost since they had swept the Eagles in the three-game regular season finale.

Thirteen seconds after the first intermission, Bennett beat Eagles goalie Sebastien Laplante. He added another late in the period to give the SteelHounds a 4-2 advantage.

“This victory was huge for us, down three games,” Bennett said. “Our backs were against the wall and we had to come out hitting, being tough, getting in their face and battling.

“They had a hot goaltender so we had to get to the net, get some ugly goals,” Bennett said. “We beat them on the boards and we’re not afraid to fight them.”

Four minutes after Bennett’s first tally, Odut’s shorthanded goal doubled the lead. Odut stole the puck at center ice, took off on a breakaway, briefly lost control of the puck but kicked it ahead to his stick.

“When they are on the power play, the D-men like to carry the puck all the way into the zone,” Odut said. “They don’t like dumping it in so I just poked it off his stick and battled to the net.”

Odut said he felt himself being hooked as he closed in on Eagles goalie Sebastien Laplante “but I regrouped and stuck it into his legs.”

On getting another shot at the defending Central Hockey League champions, Odut called the win “huge.

“We feel we didn’t play up to our capabilities, especially Tuesday,” said Odut, referring to Colorado’s 4-1 win in Game 3. “Our special teams improved today.”

The SteelHounds’ rally continued when Eric Przepiorka drew Laplante’s attention at the right of the net then passed to a wide-open Jimmy Russo for a tap-in goal, his first as a professional.

But late in the second period, the Eagles surged. First, defenseman Jay Birnie beat Beech with a shot from the blue line. Then Ryan Tobler deflected Greg Pankewicz’s slapshot into the net to cut the lead to 3-2.

Bennett’s second goal shifted momentum back to the SteelHounds. Chris Richards set up the play when he deflected Kurtis Dulle’s shot into Laplante’s pads and Bennett swiped the rebound past Laplante who was playing his seventh straight game against the SteelHounds.

Bryan Lachapelle’s power-play goal early in the third period ended the scoring.

Beech, who backed up Andy Franck the past six games, called the three-goal leads “a big boost because we’ve been having trouble in this series putting the puck into the net. They gave us a bit of a scare when they scored two so there was a bit of relief when we got that fourth one.”

In an effort to shake up his squad, Kaminski said he went with Beech, who played with the Laredo Bucks before being traded here in January.

“Beecher had a heckuva record in the regular season,” Kaminski said. “I’m sure Andy would like to have a few of those goals back but down three-nothing you have to change it up.”

Kaminski said the SteelHounds traded for Beech in case Franck was recalled to the American Hockey League.

“We ended up having two solid goalies,” sad Kaminski who added that Beech earned the game 5 start. “He made key saves when he had to.”

Kaminski said he won’t be surprised if the on-ice battles continue.

“We can’t take one shift off because it might cost us the game,” Kaminski said. “Tonight, we were playoff players and that’s the way we have to approach [Game 5]. We’ve gone on winning streaks — there’s no reason not build off this.”

williams@vindy.com