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Joey Costanzo has entered into the conversation with Mikey DiPietro.
Until Friday, DiPietro was the last Windsor Spitfires’ goalie to post multiple shutouts in a season. The pride of Amherstburg and the star of Windsor’s run to the 2017 Memorial Cup, DiPietro posted seven shutouts in 2017-18.
On Friday, Costanzo made 21 saves for his second shutout in 11 starts this season as the Spitfires scored a 3-0 road win over the Flint Firebirds before a crowd of 2,513 at the Dort Financial Center.
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“Joey made some real big saves,” Spitfires’ head coach Greg Walters said. “He’s just been so reliable back there.”
Costanzo now leads the league with two shutouts and also leads all goalies with 10 wins, a 1.73 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage.
Costanzo was solid early as the Spitfires were again slow out of the gate and were outshot 9-6 in a scoreless opening period.
“It was a step up, but not where we wanted,” Walters said of Windsor’s opening 20 minutes. “They recognized it and they turned it up in the second period and we were extremely good.”
Defenceman Conor Walton finally opened the scoring with a floating puck that found the back of the net behind Firebirds’ goalie Nathan Day. It was Walton’s third goal in 82 career OHL games and all three have been game winners.
“If you put pucks to the never, you know know what happens,” Walters said.
Cole Davis knocked home a rebound in close and the Spitfires grabbed a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes.
“(The Firebirds) came out and tried to be very physical,” Walters said. “They’ve got some bigger, older guys, but our guys stuck with it.”
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The Spitfires clamped down in the final 40 minutes and allowed the Firebirds just six shots in each of the second and two period with Ryan Abraham giving Windsor a cushion late in the game.
“We played well managing the game and getting pucks deep,” Walters said. “Our second and third periods have been tremendous. Just not trying to do too much and really bought into the team game.”
The two teams meet again Sunday at the WFCU Centre at 4:05 p.m. and Walters said it’s important for his club not to take a step back after a solid performance on Friday.
“We want to come out and dictate the pace on Sunday and that’s our No. 1 thing,” Walters said.
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Game Summary
Friday Result
Spitfires 3 Firebirds 0
Windsor 0 2 1 – 3
Flint 0 0 0 – 0
First period: No scoring. Penalties: Greentree W (hooking) 2:07, K.Pitre F (cross checking) 9:01, Lombardi F (high sticking) 13:47.
Second period: 1. Windsor, Walton 2 (Morneau) 9:15, 2. Windsor, Davis 4 (Abraham, Walton) 16:34. Penalties: Eichler W (roughing), Martin W (roughing), Collins F (roughing) 2:41, Kostov F (tripping) 4:53, Anderson F (too many men) 13:06, Woodall W (tripping) 14:09, Clattenburg F (head checking major, game misconduct) 19:24.
Third period: 3. Windsor, Abraham 7 (Protas) 15:11. Penalties: Abraham W (tripping) :50, Abraham W (tripping) 9:09.
Game stats – SOG – Windsor 6 11 7 – 24 Flint 9 6 6 – 21 Goal (shots-saves) – Windsor: Costanzo (W,10-1-0-0) (21-21). Flint: Day (L,6-5-0-1) (24-21). Power play (goals-chances) – Windsor 0-5. Flint 0-4. Referees: Drew Jackson (21) and Kevin McArthur (47). Linesmen: Jordan Hurtubise (57) and Brock Perry (64). Att.: 2,513 at Dort Financial Center.
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