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Timing has not been good for the Windsor Spitfires.
A late-period goal, two early-period goals and another short-handed marker against doomed the club in a 7-3 road los to the Flint Firebirds on Friday.
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Noah Morneau had the Spitfires up early, but Markas Samenas pulled the Firebirds even after 20 minutes.
The Firebirds took the lead just 29 seconds into the second period on a Simon Slavicek goal, former Spitfire Oliver Peer scored the league-leading 17th short-handed goal allowed by Windsor this season and Tristan Bertucci added another to put Flint up 4-1 less than eight minutes into the second period.
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The Spitfires rallied to make it a one-goal game at 4-3 on goals by Ryan Abraham and the first OHL goal by former 15th-round pick Nathan Gaymes, who had been recalled for the game from the LaSalle Vipers, with just 47 seconds left in the period.
However, the Spitfires could not carry that momentum into the intermission. Nolan Dann scored 18 seconds after Gaymes to put the Firebirds up 5-3 with 29 seconds left in the period.
Coulson Pitre added another 25 seconds into the third period and Connor Clattenburg capped the scoring for Flint. It was Windsor’s third loss in a row as the team fell 13 points back of Flint for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference with 10 games left in the regular season.
Windsor returns home to play the Mississauga Steelheads on Sunday at the WFCU Centre at 4:05 p.m.
Flyers in slump
The Leamington Flyers have now lost five games in a row after Friday’s 4-1 road loss to the Toronto St. Michael’s Buzzers.
The Flyers (34-13-5-3) held a 42-33 edge in shots in the game, but Marquise Brown was the lone Leamington player to score against the Buzzers (33-15-1-6).
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Leamington wraps up regular-season play on Sunday with a road match against the Brantford 99ers.
Canadiens lead series
The top-seeded Lakeshore Canadiens scored a 5-2 road win over the eight-seeded Walpole Island Wild on Friday.
With it, the Canadiens took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven quarter-final series in the Bill Stobbs Division of the Provincial Junior Hockey League.
Kyle Walker, Ethan Galvan and Conor Costello each had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens. Julian Gignac and Tyler Hamlin added single goals while Evan Fenech picked up three assists.
73’s blank Kings
The second-seeded Essex 73’s scored a dominant 7-0 road win over seventh-seeded Dresden Kings on Friday.
Essex held a 41-16 edge in shots in taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven quarter-final series in the Bill Stobbs Division of the Provincial Junior Hockey League.
Kale Couvillon had a goal and two assists for the 73’s. Gabe Barrette, Carter Dembinski, Jayden Seguin, Bryce Belleau, Conor Dembinski and Gabe Piccolo also scored for Essex.
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