No one said it was going to be easy for the Windsor Spitfires.

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No one said it was going to be easy for the Windsor Spitfires.

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After dominating at home in back-to-back wins, the Spitfires were missing six regulars for Monday’s playoff match against the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

Despite those absences, the second-seeded Spitfires pushed the seventh-seeded Greyhounds to overtime before falling 3-2 before a crowd of 3,916 at the GFL Memorial Gardens. The Spitfires now lead the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final series 2-1.

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“It would be very unrealistic to think that we were going to go 16-0 in playoffs,” said Spitfires’ defenceman Carson Woodall, who had a goal and an assist. “We believe in everyone here and the coaches. It’s all here and we have the most confidence.”

Tinas Mathurin, Ethan Belchetz, J.C. Lemieux and Tanner Winegard have yet to play in this series due to injuries and veteran Owen Outwater was lost for the season in December. On Monday defenceman Anthony Cristoforo and forward A.J. Spellacy were also sidelined for Game 3 of the series while forward Luke McNamara was forced from the game by an injury in the first period.

“We kind of went through that my first year,” Spitfires’ captain Liam Greentree said. “We had a couple guys injured and out. It’s unfortunate, but no excuse.”

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The Spitfires also couldn’t catch a break in Monday’s game. Woodall got Windsor on the board first and teammate Cole Davis appeared to push that lead to 2-0 just 28 seconds later.

However, after video review, referees Drew Jackson and Damian Figueira ruled Davis kicked the puck in net as he was being dragged to the ice by the Sault’s David Holub, who was given a holding penalty on the play.

“It doesn’t to me,” Walters said when asked if it looked like there was a kicking motion. “He’s being taken down, as he’s going down the puck hits his skate and, in my opinion, there’s not a kicking motion.”

Windsor had used early two-goal leads in the first two games of the series to run away with lopsided victories.

“If we get a couple more calls, it’s a whole other game,” Greentree said. “If Davis’s goal counts, it’s a completely different game.”

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The Greyhounds played a far more conservative game on Monday and sat back defensively, trapping and trying to slow the Windsor offence.

Justin Cloutier pulled the Greyhounds even with a goal in the second period and Travis Hayes scored on a Greyhounds’ power play just five minutes into the third period to give Sault Ste. Marie its first lead in the series.

With goalie Joey Costanzo on the bench for an extra attacker, Greentree’s one-time shot from the faceoff circled tied the game with 21 seconds left in regulation.

“We didn’t get the result we wanted, but we found a way to fight and got that tying goal,” Greentree said.

After killing off a too many men on the ice penalty in overtime, overager Noah Morneau nearly won it, but his shot rung off the post just minutes before the Greyhounds won it on a goal by Caeden Carlisle.

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“We played a good game and I’m really proud of the guys,” said Walters, who was unsure if any of the injured would return for Game 4. “We were one shot away. With the amount of guys we had out, we had a lot of guys step and had a chance to win and that’s hockey.”

Game 4 of the series is Wednesday in Sault Ste. Marie with the series now guaranteed to shift back to Windsor on Friday for Game 5 at the WFCU Centre.

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Game Summary

Monday Result

Greyhounds 3 Spitfires 2 (OT)

Windsor 1 0 1 0 – 2

Sault Ste. Marie 0 1 1 1 – 3

First period: 1. Windsor, Woodall 2 (unassisted) 8:28. Penalties: Holub S (holding) 8:56, Davis W (tripping) 11:00.

Second period: 2. Sault Ste. Marie, Cloutier 1 (Martin, Mignosa) 4:22. Penalties: Mignosa S (hooking) 14:54.

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Third period: 3. Sault Ste. Marie, Hayes 2 (Andrew, Charron) 5:00 (pp), 4. Windsor, Greentree 4 (Prots, Woodall) 19:39. Penalties: Greentree W (hooking) 3:07, Nesbitt W (roughing), Hayes S (roughing) 13:48.

Overtime: 5. Sault Ste. Marie, Carlisle 1 (Mignosa, Reid) 7:31. Penalty:  Gaymes W (too many men) 4:59. 

Game stats – SOG – Windsor 6 10 14 3 – 33 Sault Ste. Marie 7 10 11 5 – 33 Goal (shots-saves) – Windsor: Costanzo (L,2-0-1) (33-30). Sault Ste. Marie: Lalonde (W,1-2-0) (33-31). Power play (goals-chances) – Windsor 0-2. Sault Ste. Marie 1-3. Referees: Damian Figueira and Drew Jackson. Linesmen: Zach Gagne and Scott Lawson. Att.: 3,916 at GFL Memorial Gardens.

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