Spitfires lose 4-3 to Greyhounds in Sault Ste. Marie
While the Windsor Spitfires might be outgunned against some teams in the Western Conference, the club has shown it came make things interesting. Dominated on the shot clock by the West Division-leading Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, the Spitfires never had a lead, but had chances down the stretch to force overtime in a 4-3 loss on Friday before 3,876 at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
“We realize we can play against these teams,” Spitfires defenceman Louka Henault said. “They’re first in our division and we’re capable of playing against them. It’s really a learning experience for us.”
It’s the second straight game this season the Spitfires have dropped a one-goal game to the Greyhounds on the road with the other loss coming in overtime. “We played a good game,” Spitfires forward Curtis Douglas said. “We just didn’t get the result we wanted. I don’t think we’re too focused on the standings. We’re just trying to get better as a team.”
The Spitfires came out with one of the team’s most physical games of the season and had the Greyhounds on their heels. “I thought we started the game real good,” Spitfires head coach Trevor Letowski said. “We had a plan to really establish a forecheck early and have a physical presence. I thought we showed that.
“I think they knew they were in for a game from the start.” But what the Spitfires could not find against the Greyhounds was a bounce.
Sault Ste. Marie got on the board first when Morgan Frost threw a pass towards the net from the boards and it bounced off Windsor defenceman Thomas Stevenson and past goalie Colton Incze.
Windsor captain Luke Boka cashed on the power play to tie the game, but Keeghan Howdeshell banged home his 30th of the season on his own rebound to put the Greyhounds up 2-1 after the opening period.
“We know who their top players are and it’s just about being able to contain them and not give them much room,” Henault said. “When we take care of that, we can produce our own offence.” Rookie Will Cuylle got Windsor even early in the second period, but the Greyhounds, who had five power-play chances, went up 3-2 on a Barrett Hayton goal with the man advantage and Frost added his second in the final minute to put Sault Ste. Marie up 4-2 after 40 minutes.
“I thought the penalties hurt our tempo,” Letowski said. “They only got one (goal), but it was just shot after shot. In the end, their top players won the game for them.”
Despite being outshot 42-24 in the game, the Spitfires remained pesky to the final buzzer. Cole Purboo made it a one-goal game with more than 13 minutes left in regulation.
“I loved our fight back,” Letowski said.
Windsor actually outshot the Greyhounds 9-6 in the final period, but could not produce the tying goal with two power-play chances.
“A bunch of tough bounces,” Henault said. “We had our chances, but the bounces didn’t go our way.
“We’re trying not to let that get us down. As a team, we thought we had a pretty decent game.” With Incze on the bench for an extra attacker for more than two minutes, the Spitfires pressed and Tyler Angle put one off the side of the post.
“We battled back and we had