Spitfires’ attack grounded by Hounds
There was no miraculous comeback for the Windsor Spitfires this time around.
A short-staffed Spitfires club rallied from a two-goal deficit last Friday in Sault Ste. Marie with five unanswered goals in the third period to beat the Greyhounds.
Thursday, the Greyhounds again took at two-goal lead after 40 minutes, but the No. 4-ranked Spitfires were unable to find enough offence to mount a comeback in a 3-1 loss before 3,916 at the WFCU Centre.
It marked the first loss in three games for the Spitfires, who still have five players away at NHL training camps.
Windsor did get centre Logan Brown and defenceman Jalen Chatfield back from NHL camps for the game, but couldn’t seem to get much of a boost from the return of the two veterans.
In fact, Brown and Chatfield each picked up a minor penalty in the first seven minutes of the game and the second penalty proved costly to the Spitfires.
Bobby MacIntyre would drive the net, take a feed from David Miller and he beat Windsor goalie Mikey DiPietro for a 1-0 Greyhounds lead less than seven minutes into the game.
The return of Chatfield and Brown did allow head coach Rocky Thompson to dress a full roster and go with four lines and three defensive pairings, which will be important with the club opening a stretch of three games in four days, but on Thursday chemistry seemed to be the biggest problem.
The club generated plenty of shots, but many came from solo efforts as opposed to setups from teammates, and Greyhounds goalie
Joseph Raaymakers had little traffic in front of him to contend with.
The one shot to beat him through 40 minutes was by Cristiano DiGiacinto, but referee Ryan Hutchison ruled it was with a high stick and, after a lengthy replay review, the call stood.
With the Spitfires continuing to struggle for chemistry, Greyhounds’ first-round pick Barrett Hayton would tip in a point shot to put Sault Ste. Marie up 2-0 after 40 minutes.
The Greyhounds had a chance to blow the game open with a twoman power play for 87 seconds in the third period, but the Spitfires got some big stops from DiPietro and a few key blocks that eventually led to a tripping minor with Windsor breaking out.
Rookie Cole Purboo was on the doorstep of Raaymakers’ crease and he knocked home a pass from Aaron Luchuk to get Windsor on the board.
The Spitfires continued to struggle to find quality shots, but had a chance to tie the game with 78 seconds left in regulation and the Windsor net empty after Sault Ste. Marie’s Gustav Gouramman was called for a cross check on Windsor’s Luke Boka.
The Spitfires never got a chance to set up on the power play and Boris Katchouk picked off a pass, broke out two-on-one with Miller, who was able to get to an errant long pass and score into the empty net.