Reece Doumani / OHL in 60 Podcast
@Reecedoumani / @ohlin60podcast
The Windsor Spitfires collect back-to-back 5-1 victories on home ice to go up a couple games in their Western Conference Semi-Final series against the Kitchener Rangers.
Kitchener would have the first grade A scoring chance of the night as Jack Pridham was awarded a penalty shot 3:23 into the hockey game. He would break in all alone and fire a wrister on goal but it was stopped by Joey Costanzo to keep the game scoreless. The Spitfires then got the scoring started 5:06 into the first period as Ryan Abraham potted his third of the postseason to give the Spitfires a 1-0 lead. Davis and Kennedy would collect the assists on the opening goal.
Conor Walton would extend the lead to two at the 14:53 mark of the first. Following the second Spitfires goal, Matthew Andonovski would get called for tripping, sending Windsor to the power play. Noah Morneau would find the back of the net on the man advantage for his 11th of the playoffs.
This is already the second 3-goal period for the Spitfires in this series as they put three past Jackson Parsons in the second period in Game 1. Protas and Cristoforo picked up the assists on Windsor’s third goal. Spits would carry a 3-0 lead into the first intermission, also outshooting Kitchener 10-9.
The scoring would continue into the 2nd period for the Spitfires as Ryan Abraham beat Parsons on the backhand for his second of the contest to make it 4-0. David and Nesbitt recorded the assists. A couple minutes later, the Rangers thought they had gotten on the board as Trent Swick did beat Costanzo, however the play was deemed offside, keeping the game 4-0 in favour of Windsor. With 3:40 to play in the second, Matthew Hlacar would hit Cole Davis up high and would receive a 5-minute major and a 10 minute misconduct for checking to the head.
Jack Nesbitt took exception to the hit and dropped the gloves with Hlacar. Nesbitt would receive an instigator penalty on the play meaning that the teams would play 4on4 for two minutes before the Spits would head to a three minute power play. As soon as Windsor got the man advantage, Luca Romano would come into the Spits zone and snipe a shot glove side on Costanzo to get the deficit back to three with his short handed goal. Windsor would take a 4-1 lead headed into the dressing room.
Quickly into the third, the 4-goal lead would be restored as Liam Greentree scored his 9th goal of the playoffs, on the power play. Protas and Hicks grabbed the assists. The rough stuff would continue in the final frame with no goals scored, allowing the Spitfires to cruise to another victory.
Joey Costanzo wins his 6th game of the playoffs, making 18 saves on 19 shots. Jackson Parsons loses his second game in a row. Parsons made 22 saves on 27 shots.
This series heads up the 401 for Games 3 and 4 coming up Monday and Wednesday at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.
