Mathieu Henderson picked up the puck and ran it the other way past Windsor Spitfires goalie Michael DiPietro as the Flint Firebirds beat the Spits in overtime Thursday night 4-3, before 4,116 at the WFCU Centre.
Mikhail Sergachev scored twice for the Spits, both on the power play, but Windsor was unable to preserve a 2-0 first period lead.
Defenceman Logan Stanley says this loss was a tough one to process.
"We played hard and we played the right way," says Stanley, who was a minus-two in the contest. "Tough bounce at the end...but unfortunate. We played good today and the bounces didn't go our way."
The overtime period had barely begun when it appeared Spits defenceman Jalen Chatfield was tripped near the Flint goal, according to Spits head coach Rocky Thompson. The Firebirds got control of the puck and Henderson scored the winner just 35 seconds in.
Thompson says the team bounced back nicely after Flint took a 3-2 lead in the second, but after the Spits tied it up on Sergachev's second goal, they went back on the defensive.
"We took a bunch of penalties, then we went into overtime," says Thompson. "We had puck possession. Again we had an opportunity to win the game right there, but the play goes uncalled and the puck goes into the back of your net. That's hockey."
Hayden McCool got the scoring started at 6:03 in the first period, and the Spits took a 2-0 lead on Sergachev's first goal of the night. Flint's Ryan Moore got the Redbirds on the board with just seven seconds left in the opening stanza. The Redbirds would get two unanswered goals in the second, the first from Detroit Red Wings draftee Vili Saarijarvi at 25 seconds in, and then the goal ahead goal at 8:34 from Cullen Mercer.
The Spitfires were able to kill off all four Flint power plays. DiPietro turned away 18 of the Firebirds' 22 shots.
Windsor heads to London Friday night for a nationally-televised game against the Knights.