Spitfires dig deep to rally late for 6-5 overtime victory against Attack

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The Windsor Spitfires needed a little more.

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As the regular season heads into the stretch, the Spitfires needed to find a few more saves and a little more offense in hopes of moving up in the standings.

Playing for the fifth time in seven days, the Spitfires found that on Wednesday as the team rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period and got the winner 78 seconds into overtime for a 6-5 victory over the Owen Sound Attack before 2,561 at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre.

“I don’t think we’re fatigued,” said Spitfires’ defenseman Michael Renwick, who set up the overtime winner by Matthew Maggio. “We’ve just got to dig deep.”

Windsor was playing the fourth of five games in a row on the road and came in with just two wins in its last 10 games away from home.

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“We can’t use the excuse we’re tired,” Renwick said. “It’s not going to be easy, but a lot of teams have a condensed schedule.

“Every team is fighting for position for the playoffs. No games are going to be easy and we saw that with Erie and Sarnia.”

The Spitfires pulled off the comeback in one of the toughest rinks in the Ontario Hockey League to play a game in the tiny confines of the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Center.

“It’s a quicker pace and everything happens a little faster,” said Spitfires’ head coach Marc Savard, who sat out the final game of a two-game suspension along with defenseman Andrew Perrott.

It worked early for the Spitfires as captain Will Cuylle picked off a pass by Attack netminder and Tecumseh native Nick Chenard, who came in after winning OHL goalie of the week, to put Windsor on the board 15 seconds into the game.

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Colby Barlow pulled the Attack even midway through the period, but Daniel D’Amico’s goal put Windsor up 2-1 and gave the Spitfires a lead after the first period for the first time in six games.

“You’ve got to be quick,” Renwick said of playing in Owen Sound. “On your stick and off your stick. Being a small rink, you’ve got to be quick. We know (Chenard’s) good and there’s never a bad (shot) opportunity.”

But that works two ways as Owen Sound got goals from Logan LeSage and Sam Sedley just 68 seconds part to put the Attack up 3-2. Taos Jordan, after Windsor failed to convert on an abbreviated two-man power play, pushed the Attack lead to 4-2 and the Spitfires once again were forced to chase the rest of the game.

“The whole goal here is not betting on anyone else,” Renwick said. “We want to bet on ourselves. We need to go out and get wins and not rely on anyone else.”

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Maggio’s first of the game got Windsor to within a goal after two periods, but Cedrick Guindon put the Attack up 5-3 just 66 seconds into the third period.

With things looking bleak, D’Amico, who is in his overage season, helped the Spitfires force overtime against an Attack team that has gone 10 games without a loss in regulation.

D’Amico got Windsor back to within a goal before the five-minute mark and then, with the Spitfires’ shorthanded, scored on a wrap-around against Chenard to complete his second hat trick in 240 career regular-season games.

“It’s definitely been a tough stretch of hockey, but we’ve given (players) a lot of rest,” Savard said. “It’s a lot of hockey, but there’s no real excuses and everyone’s going through it. We’ve got to worry about ourselves.”

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In overtime, Remwick broke up a play and quickly fed the puck forward and Maggio went in to beat Chenard and give Windsor its second overtime win over the Attack in seven days and fourth win in five meetings this season.

With it, Windsor moved back ahead of Sault Ste. Marie, which lost 4-0 to Sarnia on Wednesday, and into second place in the West Division. The club is also within four points of the first-place Flint Firebirds.

“We’ve got big games to focus on,” said Renwick, whose team is in Flint on Saturday and home to the Firebirds on Sunday. “We’re looking to the future and two games against Flint.”

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Game Summary

Wednesday Result

Spitfires 6 Attack 5 (OT)

Windsor 2 1 2 1 – 6

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Owen Sound 1 3 1 0 – 5

Firstperiod: 1. Windsor, Cuylle 33 (unassisted) :15, 2. Owen Sound, Barlow 25 (Petrovsky, Guindon) 9:57, 3. Windsor, D’Amico 16 (Maggio, Henault) 16:09. Penalties: None.

Secondperiod: 4. Owen Sound, LeSage 8 (Bryant, Machacek) 4:27, 5. Owen Sound, Sedley 4 (Porco, Burroughs) 5:35, 6. Owen Sound, Jordan 1 (Bryant) 15:08, 7. Windsor, Maggio 29 (unassisted) 18:07. Penalties: Goure OS (delay of game) 12:34, Sedley OS (delay of game) 13:48, Zito W (hooking) 15:04.

Third period: 8. Owen Sound, Guindon 23 (Petrovsky, Barlow) 1:06, 9. Windsor, D’Amico 17 (Ride, Maggio) 4:30, 10. Windsor, D’Amico 18 (unassisted) 13:25 (sh) . Penalties: Jordan OS (interference) 4:38, Zito W (kneeing) 12:15, Abraham W (hooking) 17:23.

Overtime: 11. Windsor, Maggio 30 (Abraham, Renwick) 1:18. Penalties: None.

Game stats – SOG – Windsor 8 15 8 1 – 32 Owen Sound 7 12 6 1 – 26 Goal (shots-saves) – Windsor: Onuska (W, 10-5-1-1) (26-21). Owen Sound: Chenard (L,19-12-4-1) (32-26). Power play (goals-chances) – Windsor 0-3. Owen Sound 0-3. Referees: Morgan MacPhee (11) and Andrew Willmetts (2). Linesmen: Michael Johnstone (41) and Kevin McArthur (47). Att.: 2,561 at Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre.