Spitfires grounded by Firebirds
Windsor loses 3-1 to team with the worst record in the Ontario Hockey League
The Windsor Spitfires will insist they did not take the Flint Firebirds too lightly.
If nothing, the Spitfires certainly didn’t play with the necessary urgency needed for success and wound up losing to the club with the worst record in the Ontario Hockey League. The Flint Firebirds used a late power-play goal and an emptynet goal in the third period to beat the Spitfires 3-1 before a crowd of 2,110 at the Dort Federal Event Center.
“It’s the OHL, everyone’s good and you have to play everyone the same way, and I don’t think we got the jump very well,” Spitfires defenceman Grayson Ladd said
It marked just the third win in 25 games for the Firebirds this season, who now have former Spitfire Eric Wellwood guiding the team as head coach.
“I know they’re struggling and they’ve lost five (coming in), but they’ve won two of their last seven,” Spitfires head coach Trevor Letowski said of the Firebirds. “There’s certain signs.
“It’s the Ontario Hockey League. We can’t beat anyone if we’re not going real well, and proved that today. It’s disappointing.”
The Firebirds never trailed in the game and, after a few good shifts, the Spitfires lost momentum with back-to-back penalties. Flint did not score with the power-play chances, but settled in and Jake Durham eventually slipped behind his check and got in alone to score the only goal of the first period.
“Getting down a goal was a bad start for us,” said Ladd, whose team has struggled all season when playing from behind. Mathew MacDougall’s powerplay goal pulled Windsor even after 40 minutes, but the Spitfires had several chances to take the lead and simply could not finish.
“It felt like our execution was off,” Letowski said. “We were getting in behind them, getting odd-man rushes and not getting pucks on net.
“We certainly generated enough to win, but it was one of those ones where we couldn’t score. We had some guys that weren’t going for sure. It certainly wasn’t perfect.”
Daniel D’Amico was called for the only penalty in the third period on a play he felt Flint’s Riley McCourt took a dive on. Fedor Gordeev used the opportunity to break the tie with a point shot on the power play that beat Kari Piiroinen, and Durham added an empty-net goal to seal the game.
“A team that has two wins, you want to come in and beat them,” Letowski said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. They’re playing hard, give them credit, they played hard, they tracked hard, defended hard in the (defensive) zone.
“It is a valuable lesson. Our
group can’t beat anyone if we’re not outworking teams. We’re not built to just come in and beat anybody.”
It’s the OHL, everyone’s good and you have to play everyone the same way and I don’t think wegotthejump very well.