Second loss in two nights to the Sting
The Windsor Spitfires feature a rather unusual goaltending triangle.
No one questions who is at the top of the pyramid, but Friday was a game Spitfires head coach Trevor Letowski opted to give Mikey DiPietro off.
Brock Baier has served as the backup all season, but Lucas Patton has since earned the No. 2 role and, after not dressing the past two games, he was between the pipes in a 6-1 loss to the Sarnia Sting before a sellout crowd of 4,615 at Progressive Auto Sales Arena on a night the team retired Steven Stamkos’ No. 91. Sarnia completed a sweep of the backto-back set against the Spits.
“We just felt, before the weekend started, this is maybe a game where we can go to Patton,” Letowski said.
Patton didn’t dress for the first two months of the season, but when Baier failed to grab a win in five starts the club turned to Patton.
“He’s earned the No. 2 spot,” Spitfires general manager Warren Rychel said of Patton.
But Patton is signed to a B card while Baier is on an A card. As such, Patton can only play up to 10 games with the Spitfires this season until his junior B Chatham Maroons squad is eliminated from the playoffs.
Rychel’s reasoning is that Patton, who also played in Chatham last season, will get more out of starting with the Maroons than sitting on the bench behind DiPietro.
“I think that’s what it is,” Patton said.
Neither Baier nor Patton should expect to see much action behind DiPietro down the stretch.
“He’s going to play a lot,” Letowski said of DiPietro. “He’s going to play almost every game, but I think you have to pick and choose the few starts that he doesn’t.”
DiPietro has said many times he doesn’t want to sit the rest of the season and wants to be like London’s Joseph Raaymakers, who started 25-straight games at one point this season.
“It’s hard because it’s hard to understand a goalie,” Letowski said. “It’s just a different position.
“You listen to Mikey, and that’s what he says and I know he does want to play, but I think it’s more important, mentally more than physically, to know he can have a game off and just recharge.”
Friday was actually the first time Patton had started with Letowski on the bench. He won two games and lost another in a shootout while Letowski was away with Canada’s world junior team.
The 18-year-old Patton doesn’t pretend to be DiPietro, but has been solid and was again on Friday with an 32-save effort. “No, it’s a totally different game,” Patton said. “I just play the way I can. I just have to do what I can to stop the puck.”
He was solid early on Friday as the Spitfires jumped to an early 1-0 lead on a Luke Boka goal, but the older and more experienced Sting again proved too hard to handle for the Spitfires for the second straight night.
Windsor native Anthony Salinitri tied the game with a power-play goal and Sting captain Jordan Kyrou, who won gold with Letowski with Canada’s junior team, had Sarnia up for good at 2-1 as he walked around two defenders and ripped a shot over Patton’s blocker.
“It’s challenging because you get one of the best teams in the league the first two games (after the trade deadline),” Letowski said of the Sting, who added veterans while Windsor traded for youth. “That’s going to be hard.” The Sting, who are ranked No. 9 in the Canadian Hockey League top 10, took control of the game in the second period.
Salinitri picked up a puck that was bobbled by the Windsor defence and went in alone to score a shorthanded goal. Just eights seconds after a Sting power play expired, Kyrou notched his second of the game and the Sting led 4-1 after 40 minutes. Sean Josling added two goals in the third period to close out the scoring.