Overtime chance slips
London was just a sliver away before Windsor broke for an empty net goal and a 4-2 win
By RYAN PYETTE
That close.
Daniel Erlich got his stick on a puck that zipped just a sliver past Windsor goalie Troy Passingham’s right post.
It would’ve forced overtime.
Instead, Spitfire Dale Mitchell roared down the ice, found the empty net and Windsor, with seven stars gone for world junior duties, had another win — this time 4-2 before 6,575 at the WFCU Centre — over rival London.
“Steve (Tarasuk) took the shot from the point and I was just trying to get it on the net,” Erlich said. “It went through his legs and just wide. That’s the way it went. I just couldn’t catch a break. The bounces didn’t go our way.
“We played them hard. We gave them a game.
“We always do.”
Alas, it’s a broken record in this loud building.
Rewind what the Knights felt last spring in the Western Conference final.
The opportunities were there.
No luck around the net.
Erlich’s chance was London’s last gasp. The Knights finished 0-for-3 in Windsor this regular season.
They lost 5-2 on Oct. 22 and were held to 15 shots. They were shut out 2-0 on Oct. 8.
They went 0-for-3 here in the playoffs last year, too.
The only game they’ve won at Windsor’s new barn? When John Tavares took over and scored a hat trick in March.
But he’s long gone to Long Island.
Someone else has to step up.
“It’s kind of discouraging that we haven’t won in here,” Erlich said, “but we played well. We can compete.”
They were beaten by a familiar cast.
Windsor over-ager Scott Timmins scored the opening tally. He did it three times to the Knights in the playoffs.
Speedy Eric Wellwood buried the goal that put the Spits ahead for good. He scored two overtime winners against the Knights last spring.
Mitchell and Mark Cundari, the curfew violators sent to the showers after two periods by coach Bob Boughner in a loss to Kitchener last week, both scored in their Spits redemption game.
Cundari’s point blast came with Jared Knight in the penalty box for running into Passingham near the crease.
It was a coin-flip call.
“I thought the ref was getting their guy,” Knight said. “That’s the way it works. You have to be careful. I’m not going to change the way I play. That’s my game.”
Knight extended his league-best goal-scoring streak to nine games in the first period.
He’s now halfway to the Knights’ club record of 18 straight games with a goal set by Brian Dobbin in 1985.
He’s scoring. Other guys have to help him out.
“We have to bury our chances,” he said. “We had a lot of chances in front of the net. We have to put them in. We’re going to have to come out again (tonight against the Soo) and make sure we get a few more goals.”
Now, the Knights have beaten Windsor this year. It’s not like they can’t do it.
It was the first game of the season.
Michael Houser made 42 saves for his first OHL victory. He couldn’t repeat the feat last night.
Back then, both clubs were missing players at NHL training camps.
Now, it’s the world juniors.
But this time, the Spitfires found a way to win.
That’s what they do. They haven’t lost two in a row all season.
“I can’t remember the last time we lost two in a row,” Boughner said, “except at the end of last year when we sat guys out.”
That’s what has to worry the Knights.
They were minus some stud players. But the Spitfires were missing more.
They had a chance to make a big move in the standings before the holiday break.
Now, they’ve fallen way behind Windsor.
And if they don’t win tonight, they’re going to end the first half still looking up at Kitchener in the tug-of-war for second seed in the West.
And still, GM Mark Hunter has the ultimate decision.
Keep plugging away and risk falling just short like they did last night.
Or pull the plug and rebuild.
