On a frigid night at GFL Memorial Gardens, Carter George brought the heat, both between the pipes and on the scoreboard, as he led the Soo Greyhounds to a victory over the London Knights

On a night when the temperature in the GFL Memorial Gardens was about as cold as the ice surface, it was a pair of members of the Soo Greyhounds that got warm receptions, and for different reasons.

Facing the London Knights, goaltender Carter George continued his hot start with the Greyhounds since being acquired from the Owen Sound Attack prior to the Ontario Hockey League trade deadline while Justin Cloutier returned to his old stomping grounds and made an impact early in his return.

Backed by a solid performance from George, which included him scoring his second OHL goal, the Greyhounds picked up a 5-2 win over the Knights Wednesday night in a game between Western Conference rivals.

George said he knew as the Knights pulled their goalie that, if given the opportunity, he was going to attempt to score.

“I knew I was going to try at least once,” the netminder said. “Once I got that puck and I saw them go for a change, I knew I had a lane and actually whiffed on it, then I realized it had legs and was still good.”

The veteran netminder said his second career goal was a little more special than his first.

“This one was at home. The other one was on the road, so it wasn’t as fun,” George said. “(Wednesday’s) was a lot better because the crowd got into it.”

“He’s a pretty even keel young man and when he scores, to watch him pump up the crowd and see him get them excited and really be present in the moment was so cool,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said.

In addition to the goal, George made 28 saves for the Greyhounds in the win, including an important save late in the contest with London’s goalie on the bench for an extra attacker.

“When things are getting tense, you need someone back there to settle it down, and that’s what he does,” Dean said.

Dean said the game was one in which the Greyhounds came out after a fairly even opening period and played a middle frame that he “loved” before things got tense in the final 20 minutes.

“I loved our period in the second with the exception of two major mistakes that ended up in the back of our net,” Dean said. “I really liked the period and felt like the Hounds of old, pressing inside the offensive zone and creating a lot of opportunities. In the third period, we rely on Carter way too much. We look like we understood the magnitude of the game, and it felt like we approached it with too much caution.”

For the Knights, the game had two factors the led to the setback.

“We made a couple mistakes that really came back to bite us,” Knights assistant coach Rick Steadman said, calling it a game between “evenly matched teams.”

Steadman called George a factor in the game as well.

“There’s a reason he got traded for what he got traded for,” Steadman said. “He’s an excellent goalie, plays well, calms the game down, and makes huge saves when he needs to.”

Making his return to the Greyhounds lineup in Wednesday’s game was forward Justin Cloutier, who returned to the team earlier this month and was recently cleared to play by doctors after a bout with E. coli that nearly ended his hockey career.

“There was a point where we didn’t know if I was going to play hockey ever again,” Cloutier said.

“It was pretty rough,” he added. “There was a point where I was in the hospital where I wasn’t really thinking about hockey. I was just thinking about living. When I started getting better, of course I’m going to start thinking about playing hockey again and the doctors told me I wouldn’t play again this year.”

The overage forward was in the starting lineup for the Greyhounds in Wednesday’s game and was pleased with how he felt in his first game action since October.

“I didn’t really expect to have as good legs as I did, but I still have more to go,” Cloutier said. “It felt good. I was a little tired at times. It will take me a few more games to be back where I was, but I was pretty happy for my first game back.”

Cloutier was officially added to the Greyhounds roster just ahead of the OHL’s trade deadline earlier this month.

“This guy brings the juice,” Dean said of Cloutier. “Noone brings energy like Justin does.”

“He’s a competitor,” Dean added. “He’s a guy that wants to win. He’ll put his body on the line. Saying his name the amount of times I did to get him on the ice tonight was a ton of fun. I’m also super impressed conditioning-wise and sharpness considering it was his first game.”

After the teams skated through a scoreless opening period, the Greyhounds got the scoring started 6:05 into the second period when Jeremy Martin got into open ice behind the London defence and took a pass from Chase Reid before beating Knights goaltender Aleksei Medvedev in close stick side.

London tied the game 1:35 later on the power play as Ryan Brown scored on a rebound on Greyhounds goaltender Carter George after the Sault netminder made saves initially on Brown and Henry Brzustewicz.

The Greyhounds retook the lead 60 seconds later when Quinn McKenzie took a pass alone in close from Chase Reid and beat Medvedev.

London tied the game at two with 1:54 to go in the period as Brown grabbed a turnover near the Knights blueline and broke down the left wing before beating George from the left faceoff circle high short side with London shorthanded.

The Greyhounds took a 3-2 lead with 1:07 to go in the period as Marco Mignosa took a shot from the right faceoff circle that beat Medvedev stick side on the power play.

The Greyhounds capped off the scoring with empty net goals by George and Colin Fitzgerald in the final minutes of the contest.

Mignosa finished the night with a goal and two assists for the Greyhounds while Reid assisted on three goals in the victory.

Maritn and McKenzie added a goal and an assist each for the Sault.

Medvedev made 30 saves for the Knights.

“He gave us a chance to win,” Steadman said. “We gave up some 10-bell chances that he made huge saves on for us and kept it tight all night.”

The Greyhounds return to action on the weekend as the team hosts the North Bay Battalion for a pair of games beginning Saturday night before the clubs play an afternoon game on Sunday, both at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

With Wednesday’s win, the Greyhounds improve to 27-14-1-1 on the season while the Knights fall to 25-16-3-0.