Game Summary
Spitfires flip Firebirds
The Spitfires cooled off the high octane Flint Firebirds and a pair of late third period goals from Jack Nesbitt propelled Windsor to a 4-2 win over the visitors in the opening game of the Ontario Hockey League Western Conference semi-final series.
Game 2 in the best of seven set is slated for Sunday afternoon at 4:05 at the WFCU Centre.
Windsor had a 2-0 lead in Game 1 on goals by Ethan Garden and hustling fourth line rookie Max Brocklehurst (in above photo by Bob Davies) only to have Flint tie it up on tallies by Darian Anderson and Brady Smith.
Flint outshot Windsor 24-22 with Spitfires goalie Joey Costanzo making a number of big saves in limiting the Firebirds to two goals.
In sweeping Owen Sound four games to none in the opening round of the playoffs, the Firebirds outscored the Attack 35-3 to set an OHL record for the biggest margin of victory in a series.
Friday’s Game 1 victory by Flint over Windsor was a chippy affair that included a third period scrap between Cole Davis of the Spitfires and Jacob Battaglia of the Firebirds.
Spitfires 4, Firebirds 2
First period: 1. Windsor, Garden 3 (unassisted) 2:59 (pp), 2. Windsor, Brocklehurst 2 (Robinson, Gaymes) 6:19, 3. Flint, Anderson 5 (Kostov, Uljanskiis) 16:52 (pp). Penalties: Battaglia F (double minor high sticking) 1:04, He F (high sticking) 8:51, Cristoforo W (hooking) 15:19, Walton W (delay of game) 18:32.
Second period: No scoring. Penalty: Spellacy W (holding) 17:14.
Third period: 4. Flint, Smith 3 (Podrekar, He) 12:39, 5. Windsor, Nesbitt 3 (Cristoforo, Fibigr) 15:03 (pp), 6. Windsor, Nesbitt 4 (Greentree, Cristoforo) 19:13 (en). Penalties: Uljanskiis F (roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct), McLaughlin W (unsportsmanlike conduct) 1:19, Battaglia F (fighting), Davis W (instigator, fighting, misconduct) 3:45, Smith F (slashing) 10:26, Aspinal F (hooking) 13:35.
Game stats – SOG – Flint 10 4 10 – 24 Windsor 6 7 9 – 22 Goal (shots-saves) – Flint: Vaccari (L,4-1-0) (21-18) Windsor: Costanzo (W,5-0-0) (24-22). Power play (goals-chances) – Flint 1-4. Windsor 2-6. Referees: Damian Figueira and Pat Myers. Linesmen: Adam Burnett and Justin Noble. Att.: 5,051 at the WFCU Centre.
