Firebirds Erase Two-Goal Deficit, Beat Spitfires, 5-4
WINDSOR, Ont. — The Flint Firebirds erased a two-goal deficit and finished with three unanswered goals as they came from behind and beat the Windsor Spitfires, 5-4, on Thursday night at the WFCU Centre. Coulson Pitre scored twice and Connor Clattenburg had a goal and an assist in the come-from-behind win.
With Flint trailing, 4-2 late in the second period, Gavin Ewles battled with a Windsor defender behind the Windsor net and a loose puck slid toward the left circle. Pitre stick-lifted a Spitfire, gathered the loose puck and hurriedly snapped it past Max Donoso on the short side, cutting the Windsor lead to one.
Then, in the first minute of the third period with his team on a penalty kill, Pitre poked the puck free in the neutral zone and sped in with a breakaway. He carried the puck between the faceoff circles, loaded up and buried a wrist shot high on the glove side to even the score at four just 25 seconds into period three.
Flint then claimed the lead for good with just of eight minutes remaining in regulation. Clattenburg snapped a pass to Nathan Aspinall near the bottom of the left circle. Aspinall fed the puck toward the front of the net where there was traffic and his shot hit a defender, ricocheted in the air and sailed over Donoso’s glove, giving the Firebirds a 5-4 lead.
Later in the third, AJ Spellacy burned in with a shorthanded breakaway, drew a penalty and was awarded a penalty shot. Day stood tall and thwarted the shot attempt with a left pad save to keep his team ahead. Donoso was pulled for an extra attacker with less than two minutes remaining and Windsor mounted chances but could not get anything else past Day as Flint held on for the win.
Day finished with 27 saves on 31 shots and earned his 40th career OHL victory in the win.
Clattenburg put the Firebirds on the board first nearly 11 minutes into the first period. He received a pass from Marko Stojkov at the top of the left circle and curled back toward the point. Clattenburg skated to a soft spot in the defense and let a wrister go that beat Donoso and put the Firebirds ahead, 1-0.
The Spits responded with three goals in the period to give them a two-goal lead. First, Liam Greentree shot from the left point and Cole Davis redirected it past Nathan Day to tie the game at one shy of the 13-minute mark. Then during four-on-four play, Carson Woodall was sprung for a breakaway with a stretch pass. He snapped the puck high past Day to make it 2-1. Finally, in the final minute of the first with Flint on a power play, Davis sped in with a shorthanded breakaway, put a move on Day and flicked a wrister home, pushing the lead to 3-1.
The Firebirds answered quickly, however, as Roberto Mancini beat the buzzer with a power play goal. He skated just inside the blue line and snapped a long-range shot into traffic. It sailed through that traffic and got past Donoso’s glove with 3.6 seconds remaining in the opening frame, pulling the Birds within one.
Windsor took its 4-2 lead early in the second period when Noah Morneau was fed for a backdoor tap-in.
Jimmy Lombardi logged an assist to stretch his point streak to five games, Ewles contributed two assists for the second time in as many games and both Mancini and Oliver Peer recorded points in their first game in Windsor since being traded by the Spitfires to the Firebirds.
The Firebirds improved 25-28-3-1 in the win while the Spitfires dropped to 18-32-4-3. The two teams will now return to Michigan for the second half of their home-and-home set on Friday night. Puck drop at the Dort Financial Center is set for 7 p.m.
Story: Brandon Mills // flintfirebirds.com
Photo courtesy of Windsor Spitfires
