It’s far too early in the season to call it a statement win.

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It’s far too early in the season to call it a statement win.

Still, the confidence level for the Windsor Spitfires only continues to grow after the club’s impressive 5-1 road win on Saturday over the Brantford Bulldogs, who are ranked No. 8 in the Canadian Hockey League.

“I think getting wins early in the year always boosts the team’s confidence and for it being against a team like that definitely feels good,” said Spitfires’ defenceman Anthony Cristoforo, who saw his team improve to 4-0-1-0 on the season.

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But with veterans now back from NHL camps, it’s also impressive in how the Spitfires are now starting to stack wins together.

After giving up nine goals in the first two games of the season, the Spitfires have yielded just three goals in the last three games.

“I think our commitment to playing team defence is huge,” Cristoforo said. “Wally (head coach Greg Walters) has a system for us that we all understand and we know the offence will always be there, but making sure our defensive zone is set has been the message since Day 1 of camp.”

The Spitfires gave up a league-leading 260 goals in 68 games last season, which was the most allowed by any league team in 17 seasons. That was an immediate focus when Walters was hired and he says it’s not only great to see the defensive effort getting results on the ice, but even better to see how players are engaged on the bench.

“I’m just really proud with how they’ve bought into the little details of the game,” Walters said. “With what they went through last year, it’s even bigger when you start hearing players talk about getting above the puck and tracking and yelling it off the bench. When that happens, you know you’ve got something.”

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Windsor started quickly in Saturday’s game at the Brantford Civic Centre with 10 of the game’s first 11 shots and built a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes on goals by Ilya Protas and a power-play effort by Cole Davis. A.J. Spellacy added another power-play goal to put the Spitfires up 3-0 after 40 minutes and raise the club’s power-play efficiency to 31.8 per cent on the season.

“With the talent we have, we have two very good (power-play) units going right now that can be interchangeable,” Walters said. “Both (units) got a huge goal.”

And the Spitfires also killed off six Hamilton power-play chances to improve to an 88 per cent efficiency rating on the penalty kill.

“I think both (the power play and penalty kill) are going to be very important for our team,” Cristoforo said. “Special teams are a big part of the game and, if you can win that battle every night, you give yourself a good chance to win the game.”

Ryan Abraham stretched Windsor’s lead to 4-0 in the third period with captain Liam Greentree picking up his third assist of the game on the play.

Noah Nelson scored the only goal on Spitfires’ netminder Joey Cotanzo to end a stretch of130 minutes and 10 seconds of shutout hockey. Costanzo improved to 4-0 this season while making 26 saves and dropped his goal-against average to. 1.74 while raising his save percentage to .943.

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“Joey Costanzo  was outstanding again and  special teams were able to win us the game,” Walters said.

Second-year centre Jack Nesbitt ended any comeback hopes with an empty-net goal as the Spitfires improved to 2-0-1-0 on the road this season.

Windsor will remain on the road for a Friday match in Brampton against the relocated Steelheads before heading to Erie on Saturday to face the Otters.

jpparker@postmedia.com

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Game Summary

Saturday Result

Spitfires 5 Bulldogs 1

Windsor 2 1 2 – 5

Brantford 0 0 1 – 1

First period: 1. Windsor, Protas 2 (Greentree, Nesbitt) 7:47, 2. Windsor, Davis 3 (Greentree, Cristoforo) 9:44 (pp). Penalties: Roberts B (roughing) 9:25, Manzo W (roughing) 9:53, Gaymes W (high sticking) 14:04.

Second period: 3. Windsor, Spellacy 2 (Morneau, Abraham) 15:30 (pp). Penalty: Thomas B (slashing) 15:30. 

Third period: 4. Windsor, Abraham 3 (Greentree) 8:55, 5. Brantford, Nelson 1 (Tsherna) 12:34, 6. Windsor, Nesbitt 4 (unassisted) 18:53 (en). Penalties: Eichler W (tripping) 3:02, Mathurin W (hooking) 4:47, Eichler W (boarding) 6:00, Gaymes W (roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct), Martin W (roughing, misconduct), Chen B (roughing), Kmpotic B (roughing) 9:28, Roberts B (roughing, misconduct) 12:56. 

Game stats – SOG – Windsor 8 9 10 – 27 Brantford 16 11 10 – 37 Goal (shots-saves) – Windsor: Costanzo (W,4-0-0-0) (27-26). Brantford: Leenders (L,0-2-0-0) (36-32). Power play (goals-chances) – Windsor 2-3. Brantford 0-6. Referees: Matt Mannella (4) and Tyson Stewart (23). Linesmen: Dalton Kipp (86) and Ian Rush (90). Att.: 3,162 at the Brantford Civic Centre.

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