If there is such a thing as the NHL flu, it appears Givani Smith is over it.
The truculent Storm winger had his best game since returning from an extended stay at the Detroit Red Wings training camp Friday night, scoring twice and adding an assist as the Storm beat the North Bay Battalion 5-2 at the Sleeman Centre.
The win snapped Guelph's six-game losing streak.
Smith, who could have had a third goal but lost his balance on a breakaway in the second period, downplayed any natural psychological letdown that might come with being returned to the junior ranks.
“I don’t think so,” Smith said when asked about a post-NHL doldrums many players seem to have.
“I knew I wasn’t going to make Detroit right away so I was happy to come back to Guelph and play another year or another two years here and be with the guys.”
Smith signed his first NHL contract earlier in the week and said it’s nice to have that behind him.
“You play in a couple of NHL games and go to camp you learn a lot. You learn how to be a pro and conduct yourself on the ice and off the ice,” he said. “You come back to the OHL and you’ve got a little more time and space and make more decisions.”
Storm coach Jarrod Skalde said it’s natural there be a brief readjustment when a player comes back from an NHL camp.
“Logically you think this should be easier,” Skalde said. “You’re going from playing in a National Hockey League exhibition game to an OHL game.
“The problem is you try and do more than you’re capable of and what makes you successful. The message for Givani is get pucks deep, protect the puck and shoot the puck. That’s what makes him successful.”
It paid off Friday.
“He was a beast out there. He was playing to his identity,” Skalde said.
The Storm led 1-0 after one period and 3-0 after two.
Things got interesting in the third period when North Bay went on a five-minute power play thanks to an Albert Michnac slew foot major just 40 seconds into the period.
Michnac’s match penalty gets an automatic three game suspension plus review by the league.
The Battalion’s Adam Thilander scored on that power play, making it a two goal game.
After Guelph’s Cedric Ralph restored the two-goal lead with his first OHL goal, thanks to a pretty and perfect feed from Nic Sicoly, at 14:52 of the third, North Bay made it a 4-2 game 35 seconds later.
But that was as close as they got, with Matt Hotchkiss rounding out the scoring with an empty net goal.
Barret Kirwin picked up his first OHL point on the Ralph goal.
Sicoly and Austin Hall both had two assists in the game and Liam Herbst made 35 saves.
Guelph is in Barrie Saturday night and Oshawa Sunday night.
Boxscore: Guelph 5 North Bay 2
