Carter Froggett was trying to help his teammates get back on track.

Article content

Carter Froggett just wanted to try and help his teammates get back on track.

With the Windsor Spitfires having lost back-to-back games for the first time this season, Froggett got the call in net on Sunday for just the fourth time this season.

“A bit (nervous),” the 18-year-old Froggett said of getting the start after Windsor’s 5-1 road loss to the Saginaw Spirit on Saturday. “I didn’t want us to go three losses, but our team responded well and it was a fun game.”

Article content

Froggett, who is in his first full season with the Spitfires, stopped 19-of-20 shots and three Windsor goals in the final 10 minutes of the third period finally allowed the Spitfires to pry a 4-1 victory away from the Peterborough Petes before a crowd of 5,552 at the WFCU Centre.

“It’s good to get that win column back and we’re going to build from that,” said the six-foot-four, 215-pound Froggett, who improved his record to 2-1-1-0.

Slow starts have plagued the Spitfires in recent games and the Petes, who have just one win in 18 games this season, had the only goal of the opening period on a Grayden Strohack shot from the point that beat Froggett.

“Their record doesn’t show how good they are in our opinion,” Spitfires’ defenceman Anthony Cristoforo said. “They’re always in games, so that was a big one for us.”

Windsor pushed and pressed throughout the game, but struggled to find success against Petes’ goalie Easton Rye, who was making his first start of the season after recovering from an ankle injury.

Despite dominating the shot clock 35-20 overall, the best the Spitfires could do was a 1-1 tie after 40 minutes on an Owen Outwater power-play goal.

Article content

Article content

“There’s times in games, like (Sunday’s) a good example, where we’re all over a team and the game’s still 1-1,” Cristoforo said. “You try to keep your confidence, but it’s frustrating sometimes.”

Windsor finally got a break midway through the third period when defenceman Josef Eichler’s point shot eluded Rye to put Windsor up 2-1. Three minutes later, Cristoforo fed Ilya Protas, who went high to give the Spitfires a 3-1 lead.

“That’s one of those games where the game’s close, but you feel the game’s not 1-1,” said Cristoforo, who added an empty-net goal. “We’re attacking them in waves and when you’re attacking like that you don’t lose your confidence.”

The Spitfires now hit the road for three games starting with a Thursday match in North Bay against the Battalion at 7 p.m.

[email protected]

twitter.com/winstarparker

Game Summary

Sunday Result

Spitfires 4 Petes 1

Peterborough 1 0 0 – 1

Windsor 0 1 3 – 4

First period: 1. Peterborough, Strohack 1 (Ladds, Partridge) 7:14. Penalties: Eichler W (high sticking) 4:30, Bryant P (roughing), Spellacy W (roughing) 11:23, Partridge P (delay of game) 15:38, Lefebvre P (roughing), McCallum P (misconduct) 18:51.

Article content

Second period: 2. Windsor Outwater 4 (Woodall, Morneau) 4:10 (pp). Penalties: Fitzgerald P (tripping) 2:57, Ladds P (roughing), Martin W (roughing) 4:29, Partridge P (too many men) 8:15, McCallum P (roughing), Mathurin W (roughing) 18:57.

Third period: 3. Windsor, Eichler 1 (Walton, Spellacy) 10:51, 4. Windsor, Protas 11 (Cristoforo) 13:51, 5. Windsor, Cristoforo 3 (unassisted) 19:35 (en). Penalties: Page P (double minor high sticking) 1:57, Taylor P (cross checking) 11:44. 

Game stats – SOG – Peterborough 6 7 7 – 20 Windsor 14 9 13 – 36 Goal (shots-saves) – Peterborough: Rye (L,0-1-0-0) (35-32). Windsor: Froggett (W,1-1-1-0) (20-19). Power play (goals-chances) – Peterborough 0-1. Windsor 1-7. Referees: Ryan Harrison and Ryan Hutchison. Linesmen: Phil Nadeau and Luke Pye. Att.: 5,552 at the WFCU Centre.

Article content