Spitfires shoot up Battalion 8-4
WINDSOR, Ont. Darryl Lloyd and Cam Janssen scored two goals apiece to power the Windsor Spitfires to an 8-4 victory over the Battalion in a ragged, fight-filled Ontario Hockey League game Thursday night.
Robert Hennigar, Steve Downie, John Scott Dickson and David Bowman each had a goal and an assist for the Spitfires before a crowd of 3,169 as Windsor improved its won-lost-tied record to 9-14-0, including two overtime losses.
Tyler Harrison scored two goals for the Battalion against Spitfires goaltender Matt Anthony, while Martin Lojek had a goal and an assist. Ryan Bowness contributed the other goal for the Troops, who saw their record fall to 9-9-1, including one overtime loss.
The Spitfires, who outshot the Battalion 48-25, built a 4-1 lead by early in the second period only to have the Troops rally to a 4-4 tie by 1:14 of the third frame.
Janssen’s second goal of the game and third of the season, at 6:06, put the Spitfires ahead for good. He converted a centring pass from Cal O’Reilly on the right-wing boards past Battalion goaltender Brad Topping.
Downie scored at 7:12 on a three-on-one rush, and Dickson made it 7-4 at 13:35, scoring with assists from Craig Kennedy and Downie after the Battalion turned the puck over in the defensive zone.
One minute later, defenceman Bowman completed the scoring with a shot from the wide left point after taking a pass from Janssen, who enjoyed a three-point game.
Assistant coaches Kelly Harper and Gord Smith manned the Battalion bench in the absence of head coach Stan Butler, who was tending to a personal matter.
We had a terrible start and a terrible finish, said Harper. Our defence struggled all night. They weren’t making good decisions.
Hennigar opened the scoring at 10:25 of the first period before Harrison tied it 1-1 on the power play at 15:01, swooping into the deep slot and redirecting a shot from the left point by Lojek past Anthony.
Lloyd replied for the Spitfires just 18 seconds later, and Janssen made it 3-1 at 18:27. Lloyd scored his sixth of the season on the power play at 1:44 of the second period, driving to the net and converting from the lip of the crease to put the Spitfires ahead by three.
Harrison took a cross-ice pass from Wojtek Wolski and blasted his seventh goal from the right-wing circle on the power play at 9:49. Lojek brought the Troops within a goal at 14:55, firing a man-advantage shot from the top of the left circle past Anthony after taking a pass from Kamil Kreps at the right point.
Bowness tied the game 4-4 with a shot from the right-wing circle that appeared to catch Anthony by surprise early in the third, but the Troops’ resurgence ended there.
The Battalion was without Kevin Couture, Brent Burns, Eliott McCormick, John Seymour and Patrick Sweeney.
Frank Rediker, Jared Cipparone, Lane Moodie, Brian Soso and Michael Cox were scratched for the Spitfires.
The Troops are back in action Friday night when they travel to Michigan to meet the Plymouth Whalers. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
BATTALION NOTEBOOK: The game featured five fights. Bowness and the Spitfires’ David Lomas tangled late in the first period. The second frame featured four scraps. Windsor blueliner Iain McPhee instigated a fight with Adam Henrich, Bowness battled Janssen, Rob Smith fought Lomas and Nick Duff brought Ryan Donally of the Spitfires to his knees with a hard left uppercut Matt Slack of the Brampton Battalion AAA midgets was Topping’s backup As has been the norm in recent games, the Battalion dressed 11 forwards and seven defencemen Kreps, who earned three assists, returned after sitting out a 4-2 win Sunday over the visiting Sudbury Wolves with a hand injury Henrich extended his points streak to five games Harrison enjoyed his first two-goal game of the season.
