SKIDDING SPITFIRES BESTED BY KNIGHTS
Windsor’s losing streak extended to a season-high four games
There was little of the bad blood often associated with a game involving the Windsor Spitfires and London Knights.
Then again, with two rosters that underwent drastic youth movements at the trade deadline, this whole rivalry thing is a new concept.
Many are still adjusting to new teammates or getting used to an expanded role. But using an early two-goal lead, the Knights were able to hold off a late Windsor rally for a 5-2 win over the Spitfires before 4,959 at the WFCU Centre on Thursday.
“I’ve said it before, and it gets redundant, but we need every player to be good,” Spitfires head coach Trevor Letowski said. “Half are good and half are below average and that’s not the recipe for us right now.
“It’s not a lack of effort. It’s a process. People need to understand. We’re really teaching and trying to get these guys better. Some haven’t played a lot of hockey this year. It’s not a lack of commitment or effort. It’s just we’re having trouble executing and some guys are overwhelmed. We’re giving some guys a little bit more than they can chew on right now, but we’re just going to continue to work on it.”
It’s been a struggle for the Spitfires, who have yet to win a game since the Jan. 10 trade deadline. They have now lost four straight games for the first time this season.
“Obviously, it’s a little disappointing,” Spitfires third-year forward Luke Boka said. “It’s kind of like punch in the gut. It’s four losses in a row now.
“We have to show up to play every night. I don’t think some of us had it tonight. Not many good things to say about this game.”
Poor defensive zone play left Sergey Popov free to open the scoring for the Knights and Josh Nelson, just after a London power play had expired, pushed the visitors’ lead to 2-0 less than 11 minutes into the game.
“We started out slow,” said Spitfires centre Luke Kutkevicius, who returned to the lineup after missing 27 games because of a broken wrist.
Boka’s power-play goal got the Spitfires to within a goal less than two minutes into the second period, but London restored it’s two-goal lead after 40 minutes on a power-play goal by Alex Formenton after Windsor was called for too many men on the ice.
“The too-many-men call, the penalty we took to go down two (3-1), hurt,” Letowski said. “I thought we were pushing them at that point.”
Boka’s second of the game got Windsor back into the game at 3-2, but the Spitfires could not get the equalizer with London goalie Joseph Raaymakers making key saves on Tyler Angle and Kutkevicius down the stretch.
“It’s hard when you’re down by one and you have a great scoring
chance and can’t bury it for your team,” Kutkevicius said. “That’s the way it goes sometimes.”
Windsor is averaging just two goals a game in the four games since the deadline.
Liam Foudy and Alec Regula, into an empty net, scored late goals to seal it.
“It’s a process,” Boka said. “We’re just going to try and do everything we can to get back on the winning side here.”
It’s kind of like punch in the gut. It’s four losses in a row now.