TRIUMPHANT RETURN FOR MORGAN
Spitfires’ 16-year-old newcomer scores game-winner against former team
Friday had nothing to do with revenge for Gabriel Vilardi, Sean Day or Cody Morgan.
Four days after being dealt away by the Windsor Spitfires, Day and Vilardi debuted for the Kingston Frontenacs on Friday against their former team while Morgan, who was the Frontenacs first-round pick in 2017, returned to Kingston.
“I’ve been excited since the trade knowing this was going to be my first game back and first game in the new jersey,” Day said.
Day was held pointless, while Vilardi picked up a pair of assists, but it was Morgan who scored the game-winning goal as the Spitfires rallied with threeunanswered goals in the third period to beat the Frontenacs 4-3 before 3,571 at the Rogers K-Rock Centre.
“It’s my second game and you score the game-winning goal,” the 16-year-old Morgan said. “That’s something I’ll never forget.”
All players realized the circumstances of Monday’s day for the rebuilding Spitfires and a Kingston team looking for a long playoff run.
“I’m not motivated or anything like that,” Vilardi said of facing his former team. “I’m just excited to play hockey again. That’s what I do for my life. That’s what I want to do for the rest of my life.”
It was Vilardi’s first game since May’s Memorial Cup final as the Los Angeles Kings’ first-round pick has been recovering from a back injury.
“I don’t say it’s been tough with the trade,” said Vilardi, who is a Kingston native. “It’s been tough not playing. I’ve wanted to play.”
Morgan picked up an assist on the game-winning goal in Thursday’s win in Peterborough and got the game-winning goal in a wild third-period rally as Windsor erased a two-goal deficit after 40 minutes with three goals in a span of three minutes and 56 games.
“You can’t take anything personally,” Morgan said of the trade. “I just moved on to a place where I’m going to get a chance to play.”
Ordinarily, an 18-year-old player like Vilardi would rarely be a trade candidate on a rebuilding team like Windsor, but Spitfires general manager Warren Rychel is convinced he will be in the NHL next season and Vilardi feels the same way.
“It was just a weird situation for me and a weird spot for (Rychel) because they didn’t know what to do,” Vilardi said. “He made the move, I can’t say I was surprised.
“Ultimately, my goal is to play in the NHL next year. My goal was to play in the NHL this year. Looking back, it was kind of weird situation for me because I was injured. Looking back, if I would have had a summer, I don’t want to say in a cocky manner or anything like that, but I feel pretty confident that maybe I could have made the NHL this year.”
Day, who has already signed with the New York Rangers, was in his final year and understood the situation, but wasn’t shocked at being dealt.
“It’s a strange feeling, but we all knew it was coming,” said Day, who is billeting with former Spitfires defenceman Liam Murray
in Kingston. “I had an awesome time in Windsor and thought I was going to end my junior career there.
“Even with the group we had this year, we were young, but I still wanted to stay there. It’s hard to leave, but Kingston really wanted me.”
Ryan Cranford got the Frontenacs early, but Curtis Douglas pulled the Spitfires even with his fourth goal in seven games with the team.
But Vilardi forced a turnover and set up Linus Nyman for the go-ahead goal and fed Nyman again late in the first period to put Kingston up 3-1.
Goalie Lucas Patton, who was making his third start, made 16 saves in the third period and 29 for the game to keep Windsor close.