Jalen Chatfield of the Windsor Spitfires. (Photo courtesy of Terry Wilson via OHL Images)Jalen Chatfield of the Windsor Spitfires. (Photo courtesy of Terry Wilson via OHL Images)
Windsor

Spitfires Stump Knights 5-4 in Overtime

Gabriel Vilardi scored two goals and Jalen Chatfield put the clincher into the net as the Windsor Spitfires beat the London Knights in overtime 5-4 Sunday afternoon at the WFCU Centre.

It was the first meeting of the season between the two rivals, two teams that are expected to compete for supremacy in their respective divisions.  The Knights currently occupy the top spot in the OHL Midwest Division, while the Spitfires are leading the West Division.  Both leads are by a single point.

Vilardi's first goal was the one that started the scoring in this contest, coming at 2:55 into the opening period.  Windsor would make it a 2-0 lead at 7:04 in the period on Jeremiah Addison's third goal of the season.  Logan Brown would have an assist on both goals, the first two of four on the afternoon.  London would come back, though, with two goals of their own later in the period.  Robert Thomas connected on a power play goal at 8:33, then Max Jones got his first season goal shorthanded just 57 seconds later.  The Spitfires, however, would take a 3-2 lead to the first intermission after a goal from Cristiano DiGiacinto.

Cliff Pu would knot things up again for London a little more than halfway into the second period on a goal assisted by Evan Bouchard and Olli Juolevi.  The score would stay 3-3 for not even two more minutes, when Vilardi deposited his second goal of the afternoon into the London net to make it 4-3 Spitfires.   The Knights continued to fight their way back into the game, tying things up yet again with a goal from Janne Kuokkanen at 16:43 in the third period, his second of the season.

The overtime period began with the two rivals sizing each other up, before Chatfield scored the winner at 4:04 into the extra stanza.

The Spitfires will host their usual Thursday night contest on Oct 13 when the Flint Firebirds come to Windsor, then they will head to London the following night when the Knights try to get even at Budweiser Gardens.

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