SPITS SNAP HOME LOSING STREAK
Weekend tilts at WFCU Centre were first back-to-back wins there since January
The Windsor Spitfires put an end to two weeks of frustration with a pair of dominating wins at the WFCU Centre on the weekend that clinched an OHL playoff spot.
Before a crowd of 4,944 on Saturday, the Spitfires snapped a five-game losing streak overall and a seven-game home losing streak with a 6-3 win over the Guelph Storm. Both teams came in tied for fifth place in the Western Conference.
On Sunday, the Spitfires posted double digits in offence for the third time this season, but for the first time at home in a 10-2 win over the Kingston Frontenacs before 4,306.
“I think we tried to get our swagger back,” second-year centre Jean-luc Foudy said. “At the beginning of the year, we’d score nine to 10 goals and I think everyone was feeling it.”
Windsor won back-to-back games at home for the first time since Jan. 18-19 and moved four points up on Guelph for fifth place in the conference. However, a 4-9-1-0 stretch before the two wins has the team six points back of Flint, with a game in hand, for fourth place and homeice advantage in the first round, but with just nine games left in the regular season.
“When you’re at the top of the leaderboard, it’s an exciting thing and then you start seeing yourself drop a little bit here and there and it continues,” overage defenceman Thomas Stevenson said. “It’s not something you want to see, but you can’t control how other teams play. You can just control how you play and figure out how to get some wins.”
The club tried to clear the air on Friday with a meeting between players and coaches.
“Just a long chat,” head coach Trevor Letowski said. “What we’re missing. Figure things out. At the end of the day, we’ve been defending fairly consistently, almost better than we have all season recently, but I think our offence has dried up because it’s just been stale.
“Just not putting the work in offensively. We were so dangerous early in the season because we were in an attack mindset. In general, we weren’t playing hard enough offensively.”
On Saturday, it clicked for the Spitfires, who outshot Guelph 21-5 in the first period and 45-20 overall to score the decisive win.
Curtis Douglas scored twice with Daniel D’amico, Egor Afanasyev, Will Cuylle and Connor Corcoran adding goals.
“I thought we played, arguably, our best offensive game of the season,” Letowski said. “We scored six goals against one of the best goalies in the league (in world junior goalie Nico Daws). I think against anyone else, it’s probably 10.”
The club did hit double figures on Sunday against a young Kingston team playing its third game in three days, but Letowski had to provide an intermission reminder.
Foudy and Douglas scored 76 seconds apart to put Windsor up 2-0, but the Frontenacs needed just seven seconds to tie the game before D’amico put the Spitfires up 3-2 with seven seconds to play in the opening period.
“Lewts wasn’t too happy with it,” Foudy said. “He thought we came out hard for the first 10 (minutes) to go up 2-0 and then to let them come back and to only be up 3-2, we can’t have that. I guess his speech worked.”
Windsor outshot the Frontenacs 16-0 in the first seven minutes of the second period. Cuylle, Tyler Angle and rookie Wyatt Johnston pushed the lead to 6-2 to chase starting goalie Ryan Dugas during a 21-1 shot barrage by the Spitfires.
“The messaging needed to be clear to our team that this is the way that we need to play to be successful,” Letowski said. “What’s exciting is the response that we gave and the result that we got.”
Windsor did not let up in a third period where the club added four more goals along with a line brawl that could see Spitfires defenceman Joseph Rupoli and rookie forward Pasquale Zito face league discipline.
Foudy, on a penalty shot, Afanasyev and Cuylle scored and, with the crowd chanting “We want 10!”, defenceman Ruben Rafkin pushed the offensive effort into double figures.
“I know there was some stuff going on in that third period,” said Stevenson, who had three assists in the two games. “That happens, it’s junior hockey, but you have to stick up for your pals.
“(Saturday) was our first win in a while and it kind of gave us an idea that we’re not going to lose every one. We are a good team, if we play the right way. Playoff success is built off of hot runs at the end of the year. I think, if can get our mojo going at the right time, we can take it into the playoffs.”