Dominance of Firebirds has Spitfires poised to move into top spot in Western Conference

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Once again, the Flint Firebirds simply could not contain the Windsor Spitfires.

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Flint has sat atop the Western Conference standings for weeks, but the hold is now tenuous after dropping a home-and-home series with the Spitfires.

“We’ve definitely done well against Flint,” said Spitfires’ center Wyatt Johnston, who had five points in the two wins to retake the OHL scoring lead. “Just kind of the way we play, just hard and get on them and make life difficult for them. That’s been a big key for us.”

A five-goal first period carried the Spitfires to a 7-4 win over the Firebirds on Sunday at the WFCU Arena before a season-high crowd of 5,061. It followed a 6-3 road win by the Spitfires in Flint on Saturday before a crowd of 2,888 at the Dort Financial Center.

“It’s just a great team effort,” Spitfires’ head coach Marc Savard said.

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The Spitfires are now within a single point of Flint, who are ranked No. 9 in the Canadian Hockey League, for the top spot in the Western Conference and West Division and hold two games in hand.

“Playing for first place in the (Western Conference),” Savard said. “That’s our goal. We’ve been doing for a while now trying to get first place overall in the (Western Conference). We want home seed throughout the playoffs.”

In part, Flint has used a friendly schedule caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to get to the top of the conference with 15 games, which is nearly a quarter of the team’s 68-game schedule against Saginaw, which is last in the conference.

To close the gap, the Spitfires have used a dominating performance in club’s eight games against the Firebirds this season. Windsor has taken 15 of a possible 16 points in those games and scored at least six goals in six of those meetings.

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“The only explanation I have is we play the right way most times against these guys,” Savard said. “They’re a really offensive team, they take a lot of chances and if you can play the right way against them, you tend to get rewarded.”

In Sunday’s final regular-season meeting between the two teams, the Spitfires put five goals past Firebirds’ netminder Luke Cavallin, who shares the OHL lead in wins for a goalie in his return from a two-game suspension.

“That’s kind of the way we need to play against anyone,” Johnston said. “Get in on them and outworking them. It proved to be really successful in the first period.”

Daniel D’Amico had Windsor on the board 93 seconds into Sunday’s game. Ethan Keppen tipped home the tying goal for Flint, but Windsor closed the opening period with goals from captain Will Cuylle, Jacob Maillet, Ryan Abraham and Johnston.

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“Cavallin did miss two games, so maybe he was a little rusty,” Johnston said. “So, it’s good to get five goals.”

Ethan Hay and Keppen had the lone goals of the second period to pull Flint to within 5-3, but Windsor got third-period goals from Maillet and Alex Christopoulos to put the game away before Flint’s Dmitry Kuzmin scored in the final minute to complete the scoring.

“It’s great job by all,” Savard said. “The connections and the way that team’s team coming together, it’s incredible in the room. They’re really pushing each other and it’s awesome to see.”

Windsor had six players score multiple points on Sunday led by a three-point effort from Cuylle.

“It’s been great,” Maillet said. “All four lines are chipping in and it’s nice for sure.

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“I think we’re going good right now. I think if we keep going, we can finish first in the west and that’s our goal.”

On Saturday, Johnston regained the Ontario Hockey League scoring lead in style with his first career hat-trick in 108 career games.

Johnston’s third goal also made him the first OHL player to reach 100 points this season and become the first Spitfire to hit the century mark in points since Ryan Ellis had 101 points in 2010-11.

“That’s pretty cool,” said Johnston, who picked up another two points on Sunday. “A lot of it’s credit to all the teammates we have here and a ton of great players who have been able to help me a lot, help me succeed personally and as a team.

“I definitely see that stuff, but I’m kind of more important on winning games. The way we’ve been rolling, the sky’s the limit for us.”

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Johnston and D’Amico scored second-period goals to erase a 2-1 Flint lead after the first period.

Johnston, with his third goal, and defenseman Michael Renwick extended Windsor’s lead to 5-2 in the third period. There’s got one back for the Firebirds, but Matthew Maggio sealed the win with an empty-net goal.

The Spitfires will get Monday off, but are right back in action on Tuesday against the Kitchener Rangers. Game time at the WFCU Center is 7 pm

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Game Summary

Sunday Result

Spitfires 7 Firebirds 4

Flint 1 2 1 – 4

Windsor 5 0 2 – 7

Firstperiod: 1. Windsor, D’Amico 20 (Maggio, Abraham) 1:33, 2. Flint, Keppen 18 (Othmann, Panwar) 8:11, 3. Windsor, Cuylle 34 (Christopoulos, Perrot) 9:56, 4. Windsor, Maillet 8 (Miedema, Currie) 11:45, 5. Windsor, Abraham 12 (Maggio, Rewnick) 13:14, 6. Windsor, Johnston 36 (unassisted) 18:02 (pp). Penalties: Bertuzzi F (hooking) 3:46, Slavicek F (tripping) 17:21, Jodoin W (roughing) 19:58.

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Secondperiod: 7. Flint, Hay 7 (Hayes) 10:15 (sh), 8. Flint, Keppen 19 (Othmann, Bertucci) 13:35. Penalties: D’Amato F (hooking) 2:55, Panwar F (cross checking) 9:33.

Third period: 9. Windsor, Maillet 9 (Miedema) 11:06, 10. Windsor, Christopoulos 10 (Cuylle, Johnston) 15:01 (en), 11. Flint, Kuzmin 15 (Lombardi) 19:22. Penalties: Christopoulos W (unsportsmanlike conduct) 1:24, Renwick W (delay of game) 2:51, Panwar F (high sticking) 4:09, Kuzmin F (hooking) 6:13, MacLean F (tripping) 16:03.

Game stats – SOG – Flint 6 8 11-25 Windsor 19 11 14-44 Goal (shots-saves) – Flint: Cavallin (L,29-11-1-3) (43-27). Windsor: Onuska (W, 12-5-1-1) (25-21). Power play (goals-chances) – Flint 0-3. Windsor 1-7. Referees: Ryan Elbers (9) and Ben Moser (18). Linesmen: Kyle Flood (66) and Tommy Hughes (45). Att.: 5,061 at the WFCU Centre.