McDavid Steals Show For Erie, Spits Go Down 5-2

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Despite the hype, the Windsor Spitfires were left disappointed Friday night. Welcoming the 2014-2015 season, the Spits were looking to come out on top in their home opener against the Erie Otters. Connor McDavid thought otherwise, scoring a goal and adding two assists to carry the visitors to a 5-2 victory at the WFCU Centre.

The Spitfires led an impressive first period attack on the Otters, scoring the game’s first two goals. Early on, Mark Manchurek found a rebound and slid the puck past goaltender Devin Williams. Chris Marchese then made his fashionable return by directing a perfectly-placed pass from Markus Soberg into the net. Marchese was playing in his first regular season game since suffering an injury a few seasons ago. Although the Otters cut the lead in half with Nick Betz’ high shot, the Spits remained fired up. They took a 2-1 lead to the dressing room at the intermission.

As the second period began, the game seemed to become the Connor McDavid Show. He tied the game just 46 seconds into the middle frame. After drawing Alex Fotinos out of the net, he deked around the goalie, and slipped the puck into the empty net. Late in the period, while shorthanded, a speedy McDavid stopped before a sprawling defenseman, and made an easy pass to Betz for the one-timer. The Erie Otters now had a 3-2 advantage with one period to go.

Though the Spitfires tried, they couldn’t break out; their chances were minimal. And the Otters kept coming. Eventually, they would add another goal and go up by a pair. Taylor Raddyish found the loose puck in a scrum in the Spitfires’ crease to increase Erie’s lead. Nearly five minutes later, McDavid’s faceoff win to Jesse Saban tacked on the final goal. With less than ten minutes to play, and likely out of frustration, Ryan Moore earned himself a match penalty for slew-footing. The Spits killed off the major penalty, but it was too late, as time ran out.

In the end, the Windsor Spitfires fell to the Erie Otters 5-2 in front of an energetic home crowd of 5632.

The Spits will be back at the WFCU Centre this Sunday, September 28^th to take on the Guelph Storm at 2:05pm.