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This has not been a season of comebacks for the Windsor Spitfires.
Prior to Thursday, the Spitfires had just a single win in 23 games when trailing after two periods of play.
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The Spitfires earned win No. 2 with three-unanswered goals in the third period for a 5-4 win over the Erie Otters before a crowd of 3,934 at the WFCU Centre.
“It was a huge win for us,” Spitfires’ centre Ryan Abraham said. “It brings back the confidence.”
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Windsor jumped to a 2-0 lead after the opening period on goals by captain Liam Greentree and Ethan Martin.
“We came out flying,” Martin said.
But that lead disappeared quickly in the second period. Windsor didn’t have a shot on net for more than seven minutes to start the period and by the time the Otters had fired eight at Spitfires’ goalie Joey Costanzo and tied the game on a power-play goal by Martin Misiak and another from Brett Bressette less than four minutes into the frame.
“We can’t take any periods off,” Abraham said. “We took the second off and it didn’t end up good. If we play a full 60, I think we’re a pretty good hockey team.”
Outshot 13-4 in the middle period, Windsor’s two-goal lead after the first period turned into a two-goal deficit after 40 minutes with Pano Fimis and Malcolm Spence putting the Otters in front.
“Quick power-play goal (28 seconds into the period) and we’re back on our heals,” Spitfires’ interim head coach Casey Torres said. “Then, we stopped playing the game the right way. Started cheating for offence, we got ahead of the puck, we lost stick battles (and) we had soft turnovers. It was just a real disappointing period overall.”
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Erie had only lost once in 18 games when leading after two periods, but seemed unable to slow the Windsor comeback with the Spitfires, who had just 10 shots in the first two periods, outshooting the Otters 18-6 in the third period.
“A comeback like that is a confidence booster and that’s a good sign we had no quit in us,” Martin said.
Abraham started the comeback with a short-handed goal as he picked up his own rebound after hitting the post and knocked it home.
“Any short-handed goal is a big one,” Abraham said. “Every goal’s big in that game.”
Rookie Cole Davis, who fed Abraham, then tied the game on the power play with Windsor converting on a two-man advantage.
Martin, who is the son of former Spitfire defenceman and captain Mike Martin, got the game-winning goal with just under six minutes to play. He took a feed from A.J. Spellacy and wired a shot over the glove of Otters’ goalie Charlie Burns.
“Nice to finally be able to get one of these across the finish line,” Torres said. “We’ve played some pretty good games of late, but for whatever reason we’ve had stretches of time or lapses that have come back to bite us. Finding ways to not win games.
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“We’re almost going down that road again with our second period, but real good, gritty, resilient third period with some special teams help. Found a way to get a big goal late and get a win.”
It was Windsor’s first win in four games and gave a little life to the team’s playoff hopes as the Spitfires pulled to within eight points of the Sarnia Sting for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with two games in hand.
The Spitfires head to London on Friday to play a Knights team that has gone 21-straight games without a regulation loss. Game time is 7 p.m. with the club returning home on Saturday to face the Owen Sound Attack at the WFCU Centre at 7:05 p.m.
jpparker@postmedia.com
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Game Summary
Thursday Result
Spitfires 5 Otters 4
Erie 0 4 0 – 4
Windsor 2 0 3 – 5
First period: 1. Windsor, Greentree 28 (Woodall, Abraham) 6:57, 2. Windsor, Martin 3 (Morneau, Walton) 10:39. Penalties: Hammond E (too many men) 2:05, Smith W (high sticking) 20:00.
Second period: 3. Erie, Misiak 16 (Molnar, Bressette) :28 (pp), 4. Erie, Bressette 14 (Misiak, Molnar) 3:38, 5. Erie, Fimis 17 (Edwards, Alfano) 9:09, 6. Erie, Spence 16 (unassisted) 16:07. Penalty: Hammond E (interference) 13:50.
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Third period: 7. Windsor, Abraham 19 (Davis) 2:28 (sh), 8. Windsor, Davis 17 (Greentree, Spellacy) 5;37 (pp), 9. Windsor, Martin 4 (Spellacy, Toure) 14:02. Penalties: Morneau W (tripping) 1:58, Schaefer E (holding) 3:40, Johnston E (cross checking) 4:54, Daviault E (slashing, misconduct) 5:09, Davis W (slashing) 19:59.
Game stats – SOG – Erie 6 13 6 – 25 Windsor 6 4 18 – 28 Goal (shots-saves) – Erie: Burns (L,2-2-0-0) (28-23). Windsor: Costanzo (W,9-15-1-0) (25-21). Power play (goals-chances) – Erie 1-3. Windsor 1-5. Referees: Mike Cairns (34) and Jack Hennigan (4). Linesmen: Mason Hardy (81) and Geoff Rutherford (62). Att.: 3,934 at the WFCU Centre.
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