Spitfires overcome depleted lineup to drop Greyhounds (2023)

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Injuries and illness have caused many problems for the Windsor Spitfires' roster in recent weeks.

Coming home for the first time in five consecutive games, the Spitfires looked ready to celebrate on Thursday and took a five-goal second-period lead.

Then-center Shane Wright, who had missed the previous three games with a lower-body injury, was forced out of the game, and center Noah Morneau also left the game with an illness.

"We ran thin there at the end for sure," said Spitfires head coach Marc Savard. “We try to find three lines for the rest of the night and it's difficult. Also, you have to buy short shifts or you'll go broke on the next one.

Three consecutive opposition goals made things interesting, but the Spitfires finally managed a 7–4 victory over Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds before a crowd of 4,716 at the WFCU Center.

“It's special for us,” said Spitfires forward Colton Smith, who scored two goals and provided an assist. “We needed this. This is our 30th win of the year and that was our goal before this game.

“It's tough when guys get hurt and then Morneau gets sick. It's hard for guys to get in and out of lines. You get to play with different types, but it's fun at the end of the day. There's a lot of ice out there for young people to show things off and that's what they did."

Coming off a 9-4 win over the Greyhounds at Sault Ste. Marie on Sunday, the Spitfires looked equally formidable on offense early in Thursday's game.

Matthew Maggio, Oliver Peer and Wright beat the Spitfires 3-0 in less than 13 minutes of play.

“We were out for five games and I know a lot of the guys on the bus were dying to get home,” Smith said.

Alex Kostov put the Greyhounds on the board by defeating Ian Michelone, who was making his first start for the Spitfires. Windsor responded with goals from James Jodoin and Smith to bring the Spitfires' lead to 5–1 after 20 minutes and chase down Sault Ste. Marie facing goalkeeper Samuel Ivanov for the second straight game.

Smith's second of the game increased Windsor's lead to 6–1 just over two minutes into the game, but Wright and Morneau were out soon after.

“I thought as a group we reacted well,” Savard said. "I don't think it was our best game defensively but we got the two points, we got our 30th win of the year, Michelone was great there and we had some good games from some guys."

But the Greyhounds made things interesting with Jordan D'Intino and Justin Cloutier scoring to cut Windsor's lead to 6–3 after two periods and Bryce McConnell-Barker turning the game into a brace with just under nine minutes left in regulation. .

"I think playing and winning 6-1 so early in the game you expect a bit of difference because you can't always score a lot of goals," said Jodoin. “You are not going to win 12-1.

"We lost those two (players) and that wasn't easy for us, the second half wasn't very good, but we did it."

Maggio, who leads the OHL with 71 points, also regained the league lead with his 37th in an empty Sault Ste. Marie net to seal it.

The Spitfires are back in action on Saturday against the Hamilton Bulldogs, who beat Windsor in seven games in last year's OHL Finals. Game time at the WFCU Center is 7:05 pm.

spit pieces

Savard said the decision to remove Wright was taken out of an abundance of caution and that he is on a day-to-day basis with Morneau.

Adult goalkeeper Matt Onuska (lower body) has returned to training and is facing pucks but is not expected this weekend and the same goes for defender Daniil Sobolev (lower body) and center Ryan Abraham ( upper body).

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game summary

result of fifth

Spitfires 7 Greyhounds 4

Sault Ste. Maria 1 2 1 – 4

Windsor 5 1 1 – 7

First period:1. Windsor, Maggio 36 (Holmes, Wright) 4:50, 2. Windsor, Peer 16 (Morneau) 9:14, 3. Windsor, Wright 6 (Christopoulos, Smith) 12:57, 4. Sault Ste. Marie, Kostov 4 (Clattenburg) 13:21, 5. Windsor, Jodoin 2 (Maggio, Maillet) 14:46, 6. Windsor, Smith 16 (Castle, Wright) 19:58.Sanctions:Van De Ven S (roughing), Renwick W (roughing) 3:48.

Second period:7. Windsor, Smith 17 (Peer, Spellacy) 2:02, 8. Sault Ste. Marie, D'Intino 19 (Sirizzotti) 6:57, 9. Sault Ste. Marie, Cloutier 7 (Fantino, Van De Den) 10 :13.Sanctions:Renwick W (stumbling) 12:49, Watson S (holding) 13:48, Jodoin W (holding) 14:16.

Third period:10. Calle Sault. Maria, Bri. McConnell-Barker 26 (Kudryavtsev, Duarte) 11:01 (pp), 11. Windsor, Maggio 37 (Greentree) 16:23 (en).Sanctions:Jodoin W (stumble) 1:47, Duarte S (hold) 2:13, Renwick W (high hold) 10:31.

Game stats – SOG –Sault St. Marie 16 11 11 – 38 Windsor 16 11 7 – 34Goal (defensive kick) –Sault Ste. Marie: Ivanov (W, 10-14-5-3) (16-11), Miller (0:00 to segundo tempo) (17-16). Windsor: Michelone (V, 1-1-0-0) (37-33).Power play (goal opportunities) –Sault St. Maria 1-4. Windsor 0-1.Referees:Blake Beer (28) e Ben Wilson (32).flags:Kyle Flood (66) and Will Lamoureux (85).A.:4716 of the WFCU Center.

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