By DAVE PAUL
Though they
currently sit in
ninth-place and out
of a playoff
position, the
Windsor Spitfires
are not playing like
a ninth-place team.
The Spits continued
their recent roll
Saturday night at
RBC Centre,
collecting their
sixth win in their
past nine games with
a 3-2 overtime
victory against the
Sting.
And, they were full
marks for the
victory, outplaying
the Sting for large
portions of the
contest and
outshooting the home
team 38-24.
In fact, WIndsor was
utterly dominating
Saturday night's
game as the halfway
point in the contest
approached, leading
2-0 on goals by
Jamie Lewis and
Cristiano DiGiacinto
and heading to a
power play.
But a major turning
point in the game
occurred during that
man advantage as the
Sting used an
aggressive penalty
kill to thwart
Windsor. Then, as
the penalty wound
down, Troy
Lajeunesse and
Alexandre Renaud
broke out on a
two-on-one, with
Lajeunesse passing
to Renaud who rifled
home a shorthanded
goal to put the
Sting on the board.
Another key moment
came six minutes
later when Windsor
was awarded a
penalty shot. Sting
goalie Taylor Dupuis
forced Spitfires
forward Markus
Soberg to fire wide,
keeping the score at
2-1.
The Sting were able
to apply some
pressure in the
third and were
rewarded,
six-and-a-half
minutes in, when
Hayden Hodgson
scored from in-close
to tie the game.
Neither team could
score for the
duration of the
third period, but it
didn't take long
into overtime for
the Spitfires to
break through, with
Logan Brown firing a
shot that was
deflected and fooled
Dupuis, getting past
the Sting goalie,
just 20 seconds into
the extra frame.
Port Lambton's
Brendan Johnston,
who was battered by
the Sting in his
first OHL start,
earlier this season,
was the winning
goalie.
The injury-depleted
Sting lineup was
missing such
notables as Pavel
Zacha, Nikita
Korostelev and
Connor Schlichting.
None of those
players is expected
to be back in the
lineup when the
Sting travel to
Windsor on Sunday to
complete the
home-and-home
weekend series.
