The Saginaw Spirit lost to the Windsor Spitfires 6-1 in front of 3,844 fans at the Dow Event Center tonight.
Windsor right wing Christian Fischer scored his 40th goal of the season to give the Spit's an early 1-0 lead at 4:17 of the opening period.
The Spirit scored on a 5 on 3 advantage after Windsor's Luke Boka and Mads Eller were both whistled for hooking at 8:23 of the first period. Spirit assistant captain Mitchell Stephens (a second round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning- 33 overall in the 2015 NHL entry draft) scored the power play goal at 9:05 of the first period for his 20th goal of the season.
Windsor would go on to score five unanswered goals in a game that -for all intents and purposes- meant nothing in the standings, but could have set the tone for the Spirit in the upcoming playoffs.
The game with which everyone was keeping close tabs was between the London Knights and the Erie Otters at the Budweiser Gardens in London, ON tonight.
The two teams were tied for first in the OHL's western conference standings with 103 points each prior to tonight's game, and whichever team finishes in the top spot will be Saginaw's first round playoff opponent.
The Knight's were victorious 4-3 tonight and now hold a two point advantage over the Otters. The two teams, However, will meet again tomorrow night in Erie, PA for the final regular season game. With a victory tomorrow night, Erie would also even the season series at 3 games apiece.
According to the OHL tie-breaking policy; if two teams end up with the same number of points, then the first tie-breaker would go to the team with the best head-to-head record. If the two teams have the same head-to-head record, the next tie-breaker would go to the team that has the best season total goal differential (between those two teams).
London currently leads the series 3-2 and has a 17-14 season goal differential advantage, so the Otter's would need to win tomorrow's game by at least four goals in order to become Saginaw's first round opponent. If they don't win by four goals, it looks like the Spirit will be playing the London Knight's in the first round.
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