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The biggest thing was simply getting back in the win column.
After back-to-back road losses, the Windsor Spitfires returned him Thursday to post a tight 2-1 win over the Barrie Colts before 4,968 at the WFCU Centre.
“Confidence booster,” Spitfires’ forward Ethan Martin said. “It’s a huge win, especially against a team like Barrie. They’re a good team and it’s huge for us to come out with the two points.”
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Barrie, which came into the game tied for top spot in the Central Division, was projected to be a contender for the Eastern Conference title this season, but found few cracks in the Windsor defence to exploit.
“We smothered them,” Spitfires’ head coach Greg Walters said of the Colts. “We had really good structure. That’s a really good hockey team and we held them to under 10 scoring chances, which is amazing.”
The offence continues to struggle for goals, but Windsor got a boost with Martin, who was playing on the fourth line, getting an early goal to put the Spitfires up 1-0 after 20 minutes.
“We have guys contributing further down the line like that, that’s huge,” Martin said. “I think it was pretty big to just get us up early and keep playing with the lead the rest of the game.”
The Spitfires had plenty of chances to blow the game open, but Windsor failed to produce a goal on seven power-play chances.
“It could have cost us the game,” Walters said. “It’s surprising because we were 33-34 per cent (efficiency) a few weeks ago. We had some good looks, but it wasn’t pretty.”
Walters simply wants his team to put more shots to the net with the man advantage and pointed to defenceman Anthony Cristoforo’s long-range shot that found the back of the net and gave Windsor a 2-0 lead after two periods.
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“I think we’ll stick with our systems and we know goals will come,” Martin said. “Defence leads to offence and goals will come.”
The Colts’ Dalyn Wakely scored to make it a one-goal game less than two minutes into the third period, but could get no closer.
“We get up for top teams like that, but I think just trying to stay consistent and have games like that all year are going to be key to our success,” Spitfires’ forward Owen Outwater said. “Just playing like that every night.”
The Spitfires hit the road on Friday to play the Kitchener Rangers at 7 p.m. before returning home on Saturday to face the Ottawa 67’s at the WFCU Centre. Game time is 7:05 p.m.
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Game Summary
Thursday Result
Spitfires 2 Colts 1
Barrie 0 0 1 – 1
Windsor 1 1 0 – 2
First period: 1. Windsor, Martin 2 (Lemieux, Manzo) 3:55. Penalties: Eichler W (holding) 6:29, Tiller B (tripping) 9:01, Eliasson B (holding) 15:49.
Second period: 2. Windsor, Cristoforo 5 (Outwater, Mathurin) 5:46. Penalties: Walton W (handling puck) 6:21, Aitcheson B (tripping) 11:46, Tiller B (hooking) 14:16, Gardiner B (interference) 17:37, Eliasson B (delay of game) 19:21.
Third period: 3. Barrie, Wakely 7 (Tiller, Gardiner) 1:52. Penalties: Davis W (hooking) 8:49, Akey B (high sticking) 12:01.
Game stats – SOG – Barrie 7 5 11 – 23 Windsor 11 14 6 – 31 Goal (shots-saves) – Barrie: Hillebrandt (L,8-7-0-0) (31-29). Windsor: Costanzo (W,13-4-1-0) (23-22). Power play (goals-chances) – Barrie 0-3. Windsor 0-7. Referees: Nicholas Bet and Hillary Brennan. Linesmen: Devon Gale and Brad Horan. Att.: 4,968 at the WFCU Centre.
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