The Soo Greyhounds took a serious blow to their playoff hopes on Thursday night as the Windsor Spitfires slapped a 6-0 defeat on the Hounds.
In a battle with Windsor for the eighth playoff spot in the Ontario Hockey League's Western Conference, the Soo Greyhounds failed to produce a much needed win for position in the standings as the Spitfires hold two games in hand on the Soo.
Windsor nursed an early one goal lead until late in the second period when the Spitfires exploded with two goals before adding another three in the third period.
Spitfires' scoring ace Rob Hennigar led the attack with a goal and four assists. Single goals went to David Lomas, Mitch Maunu and Jason Dixon on the power play, Cal O'Reilly and Ryan Garlock, who also added an assist. Sault native Craig Kennedy recorded two assists.
Matt Anthony stopped all 39 Greyhound shots to record his third shutout of the season and receive the game's first star honours.
Greyhound forward Reg Thomas was tossed from the game late in the second period after receiving a double minor for roughing, a ten minute misconduct and a game misconduct during a melee.
With the loss, the Greyhounds fall to 22-27-3-1 and two points behind the Spitfires for the final playoff spot. Windsor improves to 21-22-2-6 for 50 points.
The Greyhounds continue their road swing through the West Division on Friday in Sarnia at 7:30 p.m. The Hounds conclude their fourth consecutive road contest on Sunday in Plymouth at 2 p.m.
In other OHL action on Thursday, Martin St. Pierre scored three times to lead Guelph past London 4-3 in a battle of league powerhouses while Matt Iorianni stopped 32 shots as Peterborough blanked Owen Sound 4-0.
Anthony Stewart recorded a hat trick as Kingston doubled Oshawa 6-3. Travis Fuller scored twice while Brian Little added a goal and an assist to power Barrie past Brampton 8-2.