Newly-acquired Windsor Spitfire winger Brendan Lemieux scored a goal and an assist in his first game in a Spits uniform, but that, and three unanswered goals in the third period, were not enough to snap Windsor's current winless streak.
Damian Bourne scored in overtime to put the Mississauga Steelheads on top 4-3 before 4,133 at the WFCU Centre. It was the fifth straight game without a victory for the Spits.
Lemieux, the son of former NHL player Claude Lemieux, says it was a tough way to lose his first game in Windsor.
"We outshot them, I thought we played well," says Lemieux. "Obviously you want to get a win in your first game. It wasn't in the cards tonight. It was a good game. It was a team effort."
Lemieux was placed on the top line with scorers Christian Fischer and Logan Brown, which combined for five total points on the night.
"It was definitely good to get a point out of the night," says Lemieux, who arrived in Windsor earlier that afternoon after being traded from the Barrie Colts in exchange for Anthony Stefano and two draft picks.
The Spitfires got two draft picks in return in addition to Lemieux.
Nathan Bastian scored Mississauga's first goal with just 19 seconds gone in the opening period. There was no additional scoring until 11:47 into the second period when Owen Tippett scored on the power play to make it 2-0 Steelheads. Windsor went to the box three times between those two goals, Mississauga twice.
Windsor would get on the board at 4:20 in the third period on a power play goal from Brown, his sixth of the season. Lemieux's first Spits goal (his tenth of the season) came at 9:16, also with the extra-man advantage. Windsor would take the lead at 16:49 with a goal from Aaron Luchuk, but that lead would only last just over two minutes. Tippett would connect again with the equalizer with just a minute to go in regulation, forcing the overtime period.
Spits goaltender Garret Hughson turned away 19 of Mississauga's 23 shots. Windsor shot the puck 40 times at Steelheads goalie Jack Flinn, beating him three times.
Despite the loss, the Spitfires did earn a point and remain three points ahead of the Sarnia Sting atop the Western Conference's West Division. The Spitfires travel to Sarnia Friday night for their first meeting of the year with the Sting before returning home Sunday for a matinee against Kitchener.