Poor defense, penalty kill the main culprits against Guelph
SAGINAW -- It may surprise many to see the second-seeded Saginaw Spirit trailing the seventh-seeded Guelph Storm two games to one, but the two teams actually split their four regular-season matchups this year. One of Guelph's two victories came by a 7-3 score...the exact result of Monday night's Game Three.
"You can't dwell on a loss like that," said Spirit forward Josh Shalla. "You gotta kick the old memories out from the last game and get ready for the next game. So, everybody's getting ready, everybody's focusing pretty hard. We gave a good practice today, and we'll be there ready tomorrow."
After a 6-2 loss in Game Two from Guelph, it's now pretty clear that the Spirit did themselves no favors with a poor mindset heading into a disastrous Game Three.
"We're back home, we'll just win again then we'll go back up there and then we need to buckle down," said goaltender Mavric Parks, regarding the team's attitude. "But that's not the case, they came in and kicked our ass...they kicked our butt in both spots. If that doesn't wake up our team, I don't know what will."
Saginaw's playoff struggles have also turned up the volume on what other teams around the league are saying about the Spirit.
"Saginaw's kind of a team that had a worse second half than the first half," said forward Jordan Szwarz of the chatter. "So I think guys around the league are counting us out on this series already."
"Teams around the league are counting us out, saying we've already lost the series," said forward Vincent Trocheck. "So, it's definitely an angry thought to think that teams already think we're out of it, even though we're the second seed."
After giving up eight power play goals in their past two games - and 13 overall - it's no secret where the Spirit are struggling the most right now.
"Too many penalties, and our penalty kill was excellent in the first game, we went 6-for-6," said head coach Todd Watson. "But in the last two games, we've been horrible."
"I think someone was saying today five-on-five we're actually beating them in goals," added Szwarz. "So if we stay out of the box and play five-on-five, we'll beat them."
