Bode Wilde and Cole Perfetti help lead Spirit to 4-1 victory over Windsor

 

New York Islanders prospect Bode Wilde and Saginaw rookie Cole Perfetti each finished with 3-point's (3-assists) apiece respectively, leading the Spirit (33-14-2-2) to a 4-1 victory over the Windsor Spitfires (21-28-3-1) in front of 3,515 at the WFCU Centre in downtown Windsor, ON tonight. 

 

The Spirit took advantage of a Windsor penalty midway through the opening frame when Cole Coskey (29) did his best “Plinko” imitation from the price is right, firing a wrist shot off the shin pad's of one Spit's defender, before the puck redirected off another Windsor defenseman and into the net for a ricochet power play goal with assists coming from Wilde and Perfetti to give the Spirit a 1-0 lead at 12:57 of the first period. 

 

Saginaw extended its lead midway through the middle frame when Florida Panthers prospect Owen Tippett picked up a rebound and sent a nice centering pass across the front of the net to Perfetti, who found Detroit Red Wings prospect Brady Gilmour (9) for a tic-tac-toe goal to give the Spirit a 2-0 lead at 10:02 of the second period. 

 

A Spirit penalty early in the final frame led to a Windsor power play goal from Jean-Luc Foudy (6) who cut the Saginaw lead to 2-1 at 1:13 of the third period. 

 

Coskey (30) added his second of the night with assists from Wilde and Perfetti for a 3-1 lead at 5:14 of the third, before Spirit captain (Minnesota Wild prospect) Damien Giroux (20) capped the scoring with his twentieth tally of the season from Reagan O'Grady and Wilde for a 4-1 Saginaw lead at 17:06 of the third period. 

 

Windsor goal tender Kari Piiroinen stopped 24 of the 28 shots he saw in net for the Spitfires, while Saginaw netminder (Arizona Coyotes prospect) Ivan Prosvetov turned away 31 of the 32 shots he would face in between the pipes for the Spirit. 

 

The Spirit, who are sitting in third place in the OHL's western conference standings, will return home for a big matchup with the top team in the western conference, the London Knights at 7:05 pm at the Dow Event Center Saturday night.