Spitfires allow Rangers to hang around and fall 4-2 as series is now tied 1-1 heading back to Kitchener

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Thus far, the Windsor Spitfires have looked nothing like the team that was virtually unbeatable down the stretch in the Western Conference.

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The top-seeded Spitfires have allowed the seventh-seeded Kitchener Rangers the chance to hang around far too much in the first two games of the series.

Now, Windsor no longer holds home-ice advantage in the semifinal after Kitchener tied the best-of-seven series at 1-1 with Sunday’s 4-2 win over the Spitfires before 2,791 at the WFCU Centre.

“Frustrating, but it’s the playoffs,” Spitfires’ head coach Marc Savard said. “At the end of the day, we’ve talked about this since the start. There are going to be ups and downs and obviously this is a downer.”

Now, the Rangers, who upset second-seeded London in the first round, head home for the next two games of the series starting Tuesday with a chance to take control of the series.

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“Heading there Tuesday, we need to come out with more desperation,” Spitfires’ overage defenseman Andrew Perrott said Sunday. “We need to come out with more fire.”

After escaping a see-saw series opener with a 6-5 win on Saturday, the Spitfires conceded the game’s first two goals on Sunday, rallied to tie, but got outplayed in the third period against a team playing its fifth game in eight days.

“They kind of brought it to us in third period physical wise and energy wise,” Perrott said.

Windsor rookie Ethan Miedema was stripped of the puck and Trent Swick went in alone to open the scoring less than seven minutes into the game. A flipped puck that went off the glove of overage defenseman Louka Henault wound up producing another breakaway chance and Reid Valade’s short-handed effort had the Rangers up 2-0 with 94 seconds left in the first period.

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“We knew this wasn’t going to be easy,” Perrott said. “For us, we need to learn from a couple of mistakes.

“It’s playoffs, everything’s crisper and faster. The little mistakes you maybe get away with in regular season will end up in your net in playoffs.”

Perrott scored with five seconds left in the opening period to cut Kitchener’s lead to 2-1 and Wyatt Johnston had the lone goal of a sloppy second period, and his sixth point in two games, to pull Windsor even at 2-2 after 40 minutes .

“It’s not great to go down 2-0 early, but we’re not getting down on ourselves,” Spitfires’ captain Will Cuylle said.

But the Spitfires could not finish the job in the third period. Windsor finished with 39 shots on Kitchener rookie goalie Jackson Parsons, but not nearly the Grade A chances the Rangers produced in the game.

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“They just come in waves,” Perrott said. “The initial wave guy with the puck and they find a second layer of offense with guys jumping into the play.”

And while Windsor waits for a couple of its key cogs on offense to get on track in the playoffs, the club is also struggling to find answers on the power play.

Aside from the short-handed goal allowed, Windsor failed to capitalize on three power-play chances in the game, which included the game’s lone advantage in the third period. Overall in the playoffs, the Spitfires have converted just two-of-32 chances (6.2 per cent) after finishing third in the league during the regular season when the power play operated at 26.1 per cent.

“We’ll figure it out,” Savard said. “We’ve got to be better in special teams. It’s already hurt us this series a bit.”

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Defenseman Jack Harper scored the game winner midway through the period and Joseph Serpa added an empty-net goal for the Rangers, who now have new life in the series.

“There’s no panic in that room,” Savard said. “We didn’t play a good game. We’ll be better.”

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Game Summary

Sunday Result

Rangers 4 Spitfires 2

Kitchener 2 0 2 – 4

Windsor 1 1 0 – 2

Firstperiod: 1. Kitchener, Swick 2 (unassisted) 6:46, 2. Kitchener, Valade 3 (unassisted) 18:26 (sh), 3. Windsor, Perrott 4 (Johnston, Cuylle) 19:55. Penalties: D’Amico W (high sticking) 9:16, Swick K (goaltender interference) 17:502

Secondperiod: 4. Windsor, Johnston 4 (De Angelis, Zito) 7:51. Penalties: Cuylle W (tripping) 4:37, Sobolev W (high sticking) 14:39, Mercer K (cross checking) 17:22, Henault W (head check) 17:59.

Third period: 5. Kitchener, Harper 1 (Nolet, Serpa) 10:31, 6. Kitchener, Serpa 6 (unassisted) 19:43 (en). Penalty: Motew K (slashing) 6:40.

Game stats – SOG – Kitchener 10 14 7 – 31 Windsor 13 13 13 – 39 Goal (shots-saves) – Kitchener: Parsons (W,2-2-0) (39-37). Windsor: Onuska (L,5-2-1) (30-27). Power play (goals-chances) – Kitcheners 0-4. Windsor 0-3. Referees: Jason Faist (5) and Mac Nichol (33). Linesmen: Dustin McCrank (68) and Geoff Rutherford (62). Att.: 2,791 at the WFCU Center.