ROOKIE CUYLLE SAVES THE NIGHT FOR WINDSOR
After blowing three-goal lead, Windsor edges pesky Firebirds
The Flint Firebirds are a good reminder to the Windsor Spitfires to take nothing for granted. While Flint has the worst record in the Ontario Hockey League, the Spitfires have struggled to handle the Firebirds all season.
On Thursday, the Firebirds erased a three-goal Windsor lead, but a late goal by rookie Will Cuylle allowed the Spitfires to escape with a 4-3 win before a crowd of 3,304 at the WFCU Centre.
“I think it’s a lesson for us that we can’t take our foot off the gas at any point in the game,” Spitfires centre Chris Playfair said. Twenty-eight minutes into the game, the Spitfires looked to have the game in control with a 3-0 lead.
“I thought we came out strong and had a good first period and good first half of the second period,” Playfair said. Captain Luke Boka fired a shot through a crowd to give the Spitfires a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. Rookie Jean-Luc Foudy was hooked on a breakaway and converted the penalty shot to put the Spitfires up two goals before defenceman Nathan Staios scored through a crowd to make it 3-0 Spitfires. Flint head coach and former Spitfire forward Eric Wellwood called a timeout at that point and the tables quickly turned. “They called a timeout, and coaches call that and sometimes it changes the game, and they popped a couple,” Foudy said. Jacob Winteron got the Firebirds going with a short-handed goal. It was the ninth shorthanded goal the Spitfires have allowed this season. Only Flint has surrendered more. “The game’s ours and we completely went away from our game,” Spitfires head coach Trevor Letowski said. “That short-handed goal killed us.”
Former Spitfire Cody Morgan made a nice feed to Ethan Keppen to make it a one-goal game and Emmet Pierce, who was playing in his first game for Flint, jumped on the rebound of a shot that goalie Kari Piiroinen could not squeeze to tie it at 3-3. “They’ve had our number a little,” said Playfair, whose team is 2-2 against the Firebirds. “The message (in the second intermission) was just to calm down and not hit the panic button. Everything was OK.” Flint actually outshot the Spitfires 23-13 over the final periods as the Spitfires mustered just four shots over the final 20 minutes.
“They probably deserved a better fate,” Letowski said of the Firebirds.
With just under seven minutes left in regulation, Cuylle got position at the edge of the net and snapped home the winner.
“Luckily, one of those four (shots) went in,” said Playfair, who was back after missing 15 games because of a concussion. There were a few scary
moments down the stretch and Keppen put one off the post with the goalie out for an extra attacker, but the Firebirds could not produce the equalizer. “That was close,” Foudy said. “Being on a three-game (streak), you always want to extend it.” Windsor has now tied its longest winning streak of the season at four games and moved four points up on Kitchener, which has the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The team is also now within two points of Sarnia for the conference’s sixth seed. “We found a way to win and that’s huge,” said Letowski, whose team is 19-19-2-1. “That’s a big two points, it’s four wins in a row and back to .500 and that should bring some confidence. We just need to learn from it.”