As teams returned to action following a break for Christmas, the Windsor Spitfires looked as though they hadn’t missed a beat.
Among the top teams in the Ontario Hockey League’s Western Conference, they didn’t make things easy on the Soo Greyhounds on Saturday night, especially early on.
A 2-0 lead by the Spitfires before the game was 10 minutes old set up a first period that wound up being a struggle for the Greyhounds and set the stage for a victory for the road team.
The Spitfires tacked on two more goals in the second period en route to a 4-0 win over the Greyhounds at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
For the Greyhounds, puck management proved costly in the loss, including on both goals in the opening period.
“The first goal against is a clean D zone faceoff win that goes in the back of our net. That puts a smile on the other teams face and puts a lot of wind and energy in their sales and takes the wind out of ours,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said.
“The second goal was missed rush coverage, one turnover at their blue and one turnover at our half wall and now we’re down 2-0,” Dean added. “You spot (a top team) a 2-0 lead, of course the rest of the period ends up that way.”
Spitfires coach Greg Walters said he was really pleased with the way his team came out of the gate in the win.
“We talked to our guys about doing the right things and playing a very simple game,” Walters said.
While puck management continued to be a sore spot for the Greyhounds in the loss, Dean also credited the play of the Spitfires in the contest.
“They got on top of us in a very good way. They stretched us out quite a bit on their breakouts and did a good job avoiding our forecheck,” Dean said.
“The difficult part to swallow is we continue to shoot ourselves in the foot with mismanagement of pucks, individual efforts that turn into goals against,” Dean added. “Our choices and mindset continue to be an issue for us. We need to clean this up in a hurry.”
Walters was pleased with the way the Spitfires played despite an extended break over Christmas.
“Our guys played extremely well,” Walters said. “You never know coming off the break (how it will go). (They Greyhounds) have a verry aggressive forecheck and our guys did an unbelievable job on our breakouts to minimize that aggressiveness and were able to get some zone time in their zone.”
Windsor got on the board first as Cole Davis scored on a second chance in tight after Charlie Schenkel stopped him initially. The goal, scored at 4:05, came off a faceoff win by the Greyhounds to the right of the goal that resulted in a turnover defensively. Spitfires forward Ilya Protas grabbed the turnover and got the puck to Davis on the way to the net.
The Spitfires made it a 2-0 game at 9:54 as Liam Greentree scored his 22nd goal of the season, beating Schenkel from in close after taking a pass from Protas.
Late in the second period, Windsor took a 3-0 lead as Adrian Manzo scored in a rebound after Schenkel stopped veteran forward Ryan Abraham initially at 14:46 of the second period.
Carson Woodall capped off the scoring 2:35 later as he beat Schenkel with a one-timer from the right faceoff circle off a feed from Abraham on a delated penalty.
Schenkel made 36 saves for the Greyhounds in the loss.
At the other end, Joey Costanzo picked up the shutout, stopping 20 shots in the game.
Dave had a goal and an assist offensively for the Spitfires in the game while Protas and Abraham assisted on a pair of goals each.
The two clubs are set to meet again on Sunday afternoon in the Sault.
The Greyhounds fall to 15-19-0-0 with the loss.
The West Division leading Spitfires improve to 24-7-2-1 on the season heading into Sunday.
Defenceman Spencer Evans, who made his return to the Greyhounds lineup Saturday after missing an extended period due to injury, left the game in the opening minute of the third period after taking a hit from rookie Spitfires forward Ethan Belchetz along the end boards in the Sault zone.
Evans did not return and Belchetz was given a major penalty on the play for checking to the head.
Asked about Evans’ status following the game, Dean said the blueliner won’t play on Sunday, but how long he would be out wasn’t clear.
Evans had been out of the lineup since Nov, 24 before suiting up on Saturday night.