Windsor Spitfires are Flying High and Have First Place in OHL’s Western Conference on Radar
Perhaps motivated by turning in one of their worst performances of the 2021-2022 Ontario Hockey League season, the Windsor Spitfires have responded by feeling off three straight victories are flying higher than at any other time of the current OHL campaign. Following a lackluster effort on the road in a 4-3 loss to the Sarnia Sting on March 15, the team has won three straight games, including two on the road.
The night after the stinging loss in Sarnia, the Spitfires remained on the road and defeated the Owen Sound Attack 6-5 on Matthew Maggio’s 30th goal of the season in overtime.
Three nights later, the Spits headed across the border to Michigan to Flint where they were paced offensively by Wyatt Johnston’s first career OHL hat trick in a 6-3 win over the Firebirds at the Dort Financial Center. Daniel D’Amico and Michael Renwick also scored for Windsor while Maggio rounded out the scoring in the game by scoring into an empty net. Johnston’s three markers gave him 100 points on the season and perched him once again atop the list of OHL scoring leaders.
Dmitry Kuzmin, Ethan Keppen and Ethan Hay all scored for the
Firebirds while Nathaniel Day made 37 saves for the home team. Matt Onuska made 24 stops to pick up the win in net for Windsor.
The Spitfires’ high octane offense continued the next afternoon as they hosted and defeated the Firebirds 7-4 in the return match at the WFCU Centre.
Jacob Maillet scored twice for the Spitfires while Will Cuylle, D’Amico, Johnston, Ryan Abraham and Alex Christopoulos added singles. Magio chipped in offensively with a pair of assists and Onuska made 25saves for the win.
Keppen scored twice for Flint with Hayes adding a single marker. Kuzmin’s second goal with 38 seconds remaining I the third period rounded out the scoring in the game. Luke Cavallin returned to the Flint crease after serving a two game suspension for participating in events at the end of a game against the Guelph Storm earlier in March. He made 37 saves in his return to the Flint crease.
The Spitfires’ Sunday afternoon win over the Firebirds concluded the eight-game seson series between the two clubs and Windsor (35-18-1-4) to within one point of Flint (34-16-3-3) for first place not only in the OHL’s West Division, but for top spot in the league’s Western Conference with two games in hand over their rivals from Michigan.
The Spitfires dominated the regular season series against the Firebirds by taking 15 out of a possible 16 points. The only victory Flint scored over Windsor during the regular season game in a 3-2 shootout win at home on February 19.
Maggio, meanwhile, was named the OHL Player of the Week for March 14-20, scoring three goals and adding seven assists while having a plus/minus rating of plus-8 in Windsor’s four games.
The Spitfires return to action Tuesday night when they host the Kitchener Rangers at the WFCU Centre.