Owen Tippett resembled a lumberjack on Thursday, while the Soo Greyhounds resembled trees.

The Mississauga Steelheads right-winger produced a natural hat trick in the opening period, and later scored the clinching goal in a shootout.

Sparked by Tippett and netminder Jacob Ingham, the Steelheads wound up beating the Hounds 4-3 before 2,170 at the Hershey Centre, snapping the Soo’s 23-game winning streak in the process.

"H e’s a special player,” Hounds centre Morgan Frost said of Tippett, who began the season with the NHL’s Florida Panthers.

With the Steelheads up 1-0 in the shootout, courtesy a goal by Mathieu Foget, Tippett began Round 3 by beating Hounds goalie Matt Villalta on the backhand.

Jack Kopacka and Morgan Frost were denied by Ingham on the Soo’s two shootout opportunities.

The setback, which dropped the Hounds record to 32-3-2-1, was the club’s first in over two months.

The Greyhounds last loss before this came on Oct. 27, when they dropped a 6-3 decision in Sarnia.

"W e lost it in the first period and on the penalty kill,” said Kopacka, whose team came out slowly, surrendered a pair of power-play goals to Tippett and trailed 3-0 after 20 minutes. “We were flat in the first.”

"O bviously, it wasn’t the start we wanted,” said Hounds head coach Drew Bannister, whose team was chasing the Ontario Hockey League’s all-time record of 25 straight wins, set by the 1983-1984 Kitchener Rangers. “We gave up a goal on the first shift of the game and took two bad penalties. We showed a lack of discipline and that was the difference in the game.”

Tippett scored on his team’s first shot, beating Greyhounds netminder Tyler Johnson just 27 seconds in.

With Frost off for cross-checking, Tippett connected on the power play for his 15th of the season, in just 22 games, at 4:43.

And with Hayden Verbeek off for cross-checking late in the frame, Tippett made it 3-0 at the 19:45 mark.

"H e’s an elite player who has an NHL shot,” Bannister said of the 18-year-old (1999 birth year) Tippett.

"W e gave them too many high-end scoring chances. It’s tough to start a game like that,” added Frost, whose club held a 34-28 edge in shots. “You’re not going to be able to come back every time.”

Kopacka agreed when asked if he and his teammates can’t expect to consistently win while coming from behind.

"T here’s no quit in our group, but we just can’t turn it on when we want,” said Kopacka, whose team continues its road trip on Friday (7:30 p.m. in Oshawa, before wrapping things up on Sunday (2 p.m.) in Guelph. “It’s tough to climb out of a hole against any team.”

Trailing 3-1 after 40 minutes, the Hounds staged a comeback – something they’ve done with regularity of late.

Noah Carroll’s point shot beat Ingham at 3:10 of the third period before Frost, after Rasmus Sandin did much of the work, tied the game with a goal at 14:53.

In overtime, the Hounds had a glorious chance to preserve their winning streak when Verbeek fed Tim Gettinger in front.

Left alone with Ingham, the Soo captain saw the veteran goalie rob him with 2:09 left in the OT frame.

That helped the Steelheads improve to 16-22-0-1.

Keeghan Howdeshell had the other goal, trimming the Soo’s deficit to 3-1 midway through the second period.

Barrett Hayton contributed a pair of assists.

Johnson got the start in goal for the Hounds, but after surrendering Tippett’s three goals in the opening frame, Bannister went to Villalta to begin the second period.

The coach said he thought Johnson “looked out of position” on Tippett’s third goal, but said he made the netminding change “more to get some life into our team.”

While the club has set a goal of winning the OHL championship, Bannister was asked about the significance of Thursday’s loss.

"I t’s significant for the guys,” he said. “They’re a proud group. They’re pretty upset. It’ll be important to see how we bounce back. It’ll be a good challenge in Oshawa.”

"W e just have to come back stronger and start another streak,” added Kopacka.