It was a low scoring affair as the Windsor Spitfires downed the Ottawa 67's 2-1 at the WFCU Centre Thursday night.
Neither team could figure out how to put the puck in the net until Windsor's Daniel D'Amico buried his 10th goal of the year past 67's goalie Oliver Tremblay mid-way through the third period.
Luke Kutkevicius put the Spitfires up 2-0 just 2 minutes later. Sasha Chmelevski's 30th goal of the season made things interesting with just over a minute left in the game, but Windsor held on to win 2-1.
Spitfires' goalie Michael DiPietro made 26-saves on his way to first star of the game honours.
Kutkevicius netted the game winner, but he credits DiPietro with helping the team grind out the win.
"It's huge and he's been doing it all year so we kind of expect that from him, and he expects that from himself," Kutkevicius says.
Head Coach Trevor Letowski says — with just 11-games left in the regular season and Windsor trying to hold onto a playoff spot — it was a big win.
"We didn't love the second period, we gave up some break-aways and a couple Grade-A chances that Mikey [DiPietro] had to stand in there for," he says. "Outside of that it's the way we need to win, it felt a little bit like a playoff game."
Luke Boka blocked several shots in the win, he says some hard work is beginning to pay off for the Spitfires.
"Trusting the process, the process is long and it's going to be hard at times. There's going to be times when we have to battle adversity and it seems like we're getting over the hump here", says Boca. "We're starting to win some hockey games and we're pushing teams in front of us.")
The OHL leading Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds drop into the WFCU Centre to face the Spitfires Saturday at 7:05pm.
Catch all the action on AM800.