It was a meeting of the West Division’s top two teams and it took overtime to decide it and the teams will come out of the night tied atop the division.
The Windsor Spitfires capitalized no their first chance in the extra period to pick up a 4-3 Ontario Hockey League victory over the Soo Greyhounds on Thursday night at the WFCU Centre in Windsor.
The teams now sit tied atop the division with 30 points each.
A key piece to coming out of the game with a point for the Greyhounds was the play of Tucker Tynan.
The veteran netminder made 42 saves in the game, including 17 in the opening period.
“There’s no game without Tucker,” said Greyhounds coach John Dean. “For whatever reason, we didn’t show up tonight, especially in that first period and if not for Tucker, that’s a lot uglier scoreboard.”
Overage defenceman Robert Calisti called Tynan “unbelievable” in the game.
“That game was going to be a lot uglier if we didn’t have him,” Calisti added. “It’s pretty clear to see that he’s an exceptional goalie in this league.”
The Greyhounds struggled through the opening period, falling behind by a pair of goals through 20 minutes and getting outshot 19-5 in the process.
“There’s not much to analyze,” Dean said. “It was abysmal. We didn’t show up. We didn’t compete. We bobbled pucks. We didn’t look like we wanted the puck on our stick. We made bad choices. That’s the worst period I’ve seen out team play maybe all year.”
Calisti added that the Spitfires “came out pretty hard and we just couldn’t match it.”
“We were fumbling pucks. Passes just weren’t on the tape,” Calisti also said.
Dean said that taking a moral victory away from the game is something they’re not considering.
“Points count in the standings, and we’ll look at this come playoff time and be happy that we got the point, but we’re a process-oriented team and we know when we played a good game and tonight, we didn’t,” Dean said.
Dean added that the team will take getting a point out of the game as a positive but felt the team “still gave up way too much over the last 40 minutes.”
“It’s just not how we want to play,” Dean added. “We got what we deserved in the end.”
The Spitfires got on the board early as Matthew Maggio took a pass at the bottom of the left circle from Wyatt Johnston and beat Greyhounds starter Tucker Tynan on the power play 1:41 in.
Midway through the opening period, Daniel D’Amico made it 2-0 when he one-timed a cross-zone pass from Louka Henault at the left point past Tynan.
The Greyhounds cut the Windsor lead to 2-1 when Calisti took a pass and moved into the right faceoff circle before beating Windsor starter Kyle Downey high stick side at 8:33 of the second period on the power play.
Just 1:01 later, Wyatt Johnston made it 3-1 Windsor as he beat Tynan with a shot from the right circle stick side.
Tye Kartye cut the lead back down to one at 13:51 of the second when he scored on a second chance after his initial shot from the slot didn’t beat Downey. The veteran forward jumped on the rebound and beat Downey from the left side of the slot.
Just under six minutes into the third, Greyhounds rookie forward Marco Mignosa tied the game on a one-timer from the slot after Jordan D’Intino picked up a rebound and circled the net before feeding Mignosa.
After the Greyhounds turned the puck over at the Windsor blueline in the opening minute of overtime, Spitfires defenceman Louka Henault moved in on a 2-on-1 with Johnston. looked pass and the beat Tynan with a shot from the left circle high glove side to give the Spitfires the win.
“Overtime winners are always exciting, especially when it’s in a game for first place in the division,” Henault said in an interview with Windsor’s YourTV.
Henault and Johnston had a goal and two assists each to pace the Spitfires offensively.
Downey made 29 saves.
Calisti had a goal and an assist for the Greyhounds while D’Intino assisted on a pair of goals.
Both teams played the game without some key players in the lineup.
The Greyhounds were without veterans Ryan O’Rourke (World Juniors), Kalvyn Watson (injury), and Tanner Dickinson (World Juniors) in addition to rookie Tyler Savard (injury).
Minus goaltender Xavier Medina, who has played well of late, due to injury, the Spitfires were without veterans Will Cuylle (World Juniors), Kyle McDonald (injury), and Pasquale Zito (suspension) on Thursday night.
The Greyhounds are slated to return to action on Friday night in Kitchener against the Rangers before breaking for Christmas.
The Greyhounds will take a 14-9-2-0 record into action on Friday while Windsor, who improves to 13-8-2-2, also returns to action on Friday night.
The Spitfires are scheduled to play on the road against the Saginaw Spirit.
OHL news and notes
Thursday’s contest between the Greyhounds and Spitfires was one of three games in the league after the game between the Sudbury Wolves and Barrie Colts in Barrie was postponed.
The OHL announced the postponement on Wednesday due to league COVID-19 protocols affecting the Wolves.
“The Ontario Hockey League and the Sudbury Wolves will not be providing comment at this time,” a release from the league stated. “The league will provide an update on this matter as information becomes available.”
The Wolves/Colts game was one of a number of games postponed this week as the league heads into the final weekend of action before the Christmas break.
The league also announced on Wednesday that a pair of games involving the Erie Otters were postponed after the organization was forced to suspend all team activities due to 13 players testing positive for COVID-19.
All the affected players are currently asymptomatic or have mild symptoms.
The postponed games include a game on the road against Guelph on Friday night and a home game the following night against the Kitchener Rangers.
The OHL also postponed a game on Wednesday night between the Rangers and Owen Sound Attack in Owen Sound due to COVID protocols affecting the Attack.
On Thursday afternoon, the league announced that two further games involving the Attack, scheduled for Friday night in London against the Knights and Saturday night at home against the Sarnia Sting had also been postponed.
A pair of Kingston Frontenacs games were postponed on Thursday as a result of COVID protocols affecting the team as well.
The Frontenacs were scheduled to host Barrie on Friday night before facing the Oshawa Generals in Oshawa on Sunday.
All the postponed games will be rescheduled.