Christian Fischer put two goals in the net and Logan Brown added the third as the Windsor Spitfires beat the Guelph Storm 3-2 Thursday night at the WFCU Centre for their fifth straight victory.
The victory came after a resilient effort by a struggling Guelph squad.
Spitfires head coach Rocky Thompson acknowledges that the win still did not come easy.
"We didn't play well as a team from start to finish, really," says Thompson. "There were some nice goals that were scored, but you could see it through our special teams. The four-on-three was ugly. The power play didn't really generate anything."
The Spitfires went 0-for-5 on the power play, and while Fischer is pleased to get the victory, he believes the Storm are better than their record shows.
"They play a trap system in the neutral zone and man-on-man in their D (defensive) zone," says Fischer. "It's hard to play against them, it's always a tough game."
Fischer got the Spitfires on the board quickly, connecting with just 23 seconds gone in the opening stanza. Guelph would tie it up at 15:48 in the first period on Garrett McFadden's fourth goal of the season. The Spitfires took the lead again in the second period with Brown's fifth season goal. Unable to capitalize on a four-on-three situation that followed, Windsor allowed another equalizer from the Storm, this time from James McEwan at 6:51. Just six seconds later, Fischer would put the Spitfires ahead for good on an unassisted goal.
Late in the third period, Guelph pulled goaltender Bradley Van Schubert for the extra attacker and thought they had tied the score yet again in the last minute, but the goal was waved off.
Thompson says he knew the Storm would not go without a fight.
"I played for their coach a number of years ago," says Thompson. "They're an aggressive system, they come at you hard and we knew that coming in...it's the mental side of the game that's so important and respect is everything in this game. If you respect your opponent and respect the game, the game respects you back."
Spitfires defenceman Jalen Chatfield left the game at the end of the first period after taking a shot to the head. He did not return and Thompson did not have an update.
The Spitfires next host the Owen Sound Attack on Saturday night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwEMyyzF4Qw
(Video highlights courtesy TVCogeco Windsor YouTube)