After the entire week off, the Saginaw Spirit were back in action for the weekend, playing two games on Oct. 21 and 22, starting with a visit to Windsor to play the Spitfires on Oct. 21.
Game Results:
- Oct. 21 @ Windsor Spitfires: 5-2 Loss (3-4-0)
- Oct. 22 vs London Knights: 6-4 Win (4-4-0)
Oct. 21 @ Windsor Spitfires
The Spirit took on a Spitfires team that opened the season struggling to a 1-7-0 record after losing numerous players at the end of last season to advancements. But the Spitfires got themselves on track against the Spirit.
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In the first period, the Spirit had two power-play opportunities within the first five minutes of the game, including a five-on-three that ended in nothing to show for the Spirit outside of a few decent chances. The two penalty kills gave the Spitfires some momentum in the period as they would open the scoring just over halfway through the period on a defensive breakdown by the Spirit, leading to a wide-open back door pass and a rebound that led to Oliver Peer scoring for Windsor.
Peer would get himself in on the action once again when he assisted on the second goal of the period by the Spitfires with just over five minutes remaining. He started a nice tic-tac-toe play that led to Liam Greentree, who is building off a solid rookie season last season, putting the puck in the back of the net for a 2-0 Spitfires lead at the end of the period.
The bright spot of a sloppy start for the Spirit came in the form of the return of Michael Misa to the lineup and giving the team some solid play.
The second period did not start off much better for the Spirit as they gave up another Spitfires goal a minute and a half into the period. Another defensive breakdown occurred when three players watched Colton Smith blow by them for an open pass and lane to the net to beat goalie Andrew Oke for a 3-0 lead. The Spirit finally got on the board thanks to a power-play goal six minutes into the period off a tip from Sebastien Gervais after a nice cross-ice pass from Misa to Valentin Zhugin.
The Spirit penalty kill would again keep the Spitfires off the board, and they would get the game within one on a wrap-around goal from Calem Mangone, but that would be the closest the Spirit would come to tying the game. They would have a few more chances throughout the third period on Spitfires goalie Joey Costanzo, but they were unable to get anything by him.
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The Spitfires would add two empty net goals to push the final score to a 5-2 win. The loss marked the Spirit’s fourth straight defeat on the road. The former Niagara Ice Dog, Costanzo, made 29 saves on 31 Spirit shots, while Oke made 15 saves on 18 shots before leaving the game in the second period with an injury. Nolan Lalonde played the rest of the game and stopped all eight shots he faced in relief of Oke.
Oct. 22 vs. London Knights
The Spirit returned home to Dow Event Center with hopes of keeping their three-game home winning streak intact against a London Knights team led by numerous NHL draft picks, most notably recently returned Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan. While Cowan is the biggest named prospect on the Knights’ roster, San Jose Sharks prospect Kasper Haltunen led the team against the Spirit, scoring twice in the game.
Related: London Knights Continue to Produce NHL Talent in 2023 NHL Draft
The first period of the game was a pedestrian period, with neither team getting on the scoreboard in back-and-forth play. Spirit goalie Nolan Lalonde and Knights goalie Owen Willmore played solid periods for their respective teams to keep the score deadlocked at zero heading into the second period.
The second period had more offensive action to it, with the Knights getting on the board less than two minutes in. Halttunen scored off a nice toe-drag move around a Spirit defenseman to get an open shot in the slot to beat Lalonde, giving the Knights a 1-0 lead. The Knights lead would not last long, though, with the Spirit scoring two minutes later off the stick of Nic Sima from the slot. The goal marked Sima’s first goal of the 2023-24 season, but he was just getting started.
London would once again take the lead, thanks to a breakaway goal by Halttunen halfway through the period, before Sima would match his counterpart with his second goal of the game to even things up at two heading into the third period.
The third period had a flurry of goals, with Sima scoring his hat trick goal just two minutes into the period off a tip on a shot from the point by Kalem Mangone, giving the Spirit a short-lived 3-2 lead. The Knights would respond within a minute of Sima’s goal with a tally from William Nicholl. The two teams would once again go back and forth with a goal apiece less than three minutes after the original tying marker by Nicholl, with Zayne Parekh scoring for the Spirit and Isaiah George for the Knights.
Valentin Zhugin scored the eventual game-winning goal for the Spirit with just over 12 minutes left in the game off a rebound from a shot by captain Braden Hache. The Spirit would kill off a crucial five-minute penalty in the last 10 minutes of the game before capping the game off with an empty-net goal by Joey Willis to pull off the 6-4 win over London. Lalonde was solid in his second start in net for the Spirit, stopping 26 of the 30 shots he faced, while Willmore stopped 22 of the 27 shots the Spirit had on him.
What’s Next for the Spirit
The Spirit will be idle until Oct. 27, when they welcome in the Sault. Ste. Marie Greyhounds to the Dow Event Center and will once again take on the Sarnia Sting on Oct. 28 at home before playing their third game in three nights in Flint against the Firebirds on Oct. 29.