After playing in a haze – both figuratively and literally – for the first 20 minutes of the game, it looked like the Guelph Storm was on its way to a big loss Friday night at the Sleeman Centre.
A malfunctioning fog machine left a thick cloud hovering over the ice for most of the first period, partially shielding the fans from a lousy Storm effort that saw them trailing the Saginaw Spirit 3-0 after 20 minutes.
But some juggled lines, a stellar goaltending effort in relief by Owen Bennett and some newfound energy saw Guelph score five unanswered goals, the last one into the empty net, in an entertaining 5-3 win.
"It was hazy and it looked like it put us to sleep," said Storm coach George Burnett of the rough first period. "But I like the response. It was on the team. They responded."
"I think everyone just put their heads down and worked as hard as we could," said Storm forward Ben McFarlane of the turnaround.
"(The coaches) came in (to the dressing room) and they showed us some video and we definitely needed to be better. But I think we just came together as a team. We talked to each other and figured out what was going on."
Nothing went right in the first period, which saw starting goaltender Jacob Oster yanked after allowing two early goals to the Spirit (10-11-1-0).
But coach George Burnett wasn't about to peel the paint off the dressing room wall with a bunch of screaming during the intermission.
Instead the coaches showed some video, juggled some lines then the players got down to work in the second period.
"The lines clearly weren't working and they haven't been for the last couple of nights," Burnett said of the line juggling.
"(Valentin) Zhugin had a big goal, guys like (Charlie) Paquette and (Chase) Coughlin had some big hits and it's nice to see those young guys as involved as they were."
Paquette laid out Saginaw's Josh Bloom with a huge open ice hit then dropped the gloves when challenged by Saginaw's Olivier Savard.
Zhugin got the comeback started with his fifth goal of the year early in the second period. The Russian winger would later have several other scoring chances and block a key Saginaw shot in the third period to play a key role in the win.
Cam Allen made it 3-2 midway through the second on a screen shot from the point and Matt Papais tied it on a quick shot off a face off 2:27 into the third.
After that it was Bennet and Saginaw's Tristan Lennox putting on a show between the pipes with multiple huge saves.
McFarlane came through with the game winner at 9:31 of the third, racing down the right wing on a two-on-one before firing a wrist shot to the top corner over Lennox's glove hand.
Lennox and McFarlane are old teammates in the Cambridge minor hockey program.
"I guess I just kind of closed my eyes and shot it, hoped it went in, and it did," laughed McFarlane of his perfectly placed winner. "It's new to me to score these goals, but it's nice."
The performance of Bennett in the Storm net wasn't lost on either McFarlane or Burnett.
He made five or six huge saves, including stopping Bloom on a penalty shot late in the third period with his team hanging on to the one-goal lead.
"Owen came in and he basically saved the night for us," McFarlane said.
"He made a couple of good saves immediately, one dynamite save in the second period ... then obviously the penalty shot was big. He should be proud of his effort, it's not easy to come off the bench."
The Storm plays in London Saturday night.
