The Saginaw Spirit continued their stronghold for the final playoff spot in the OHL’s western conference with a 4-3 shootout victory on the road in front of 7,301 fans at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium in Kitchener, Ontario Friday night. With just five regular season games remaining in the 2013 OHL season, the Spirit hold an eight point lead over the Windsor Spitfires for the final playoff spot.
Jimmy Lodge gave the Spirit a 1-0 lead when he scored his twenty-seventh goal of the season at 4:11 of the opening period. Kitchener defenseman, Frank Corrado tied the game at 8:15 of the second period. Veteran Spirit winger, Terry Trafford broke the 1-1 tie when he scored his tenth goal of the season to give Saginaw a 2-1 lead at 14:53 of the second period.
After Jimmy Lodge was whistled for cross checking at 15:47 of the second period, Spirit defenseman, Steven Strong scored his fourth goal of the season, a shorthanded goal at 16:27 of the second period. During the same power play –just twenty-nine seconds following Strong’s shorthanded goal- Kitchener captain, Ryan Murphy scored a power play goal at 16:56 of the second period, drawing the Rangers to within one goal. The Spirit skated into the second intermission with a 3-2 lead over the western conferences fourth ranked team.
After Strong was whistled for a delay-of-game penalty at 10:02 of the third period, the Rangers were able to get the equalizer when Matt Puempel scored on a power play goal at 10:34 of the final period. Following a five-minute overtime period, the two teams went to a shootout. In the shootout; Spirit goalie, Jake Paterson was stellar. Paterson stopped Kitchener superstar, Radek Faksa on the first shot of the shootout, and Spirit winger, Gregg Sutch scored on Kitchener goalie, John Gibson; which gave the Spirit a 1-0 shootout advantage. Paterson then gave up a goal to Puempel, extending the shootout. Spirit captain, Garret Ross banged another one past Gibson, and Paterson stoned Kitchener winger, Tobias Rieder for the shootout win.
Paterson stopped 40-of the -43 shots he faced in (arguably) the OHL’s toughest venue. The Spirit will continue their second-of a-four game road trip with a 7:00 p.m. game in Guelph, Ontario tonight. The Spirit will then head to Plymouth, Mi on Sunday for an afternoon game against the red-hot Plymouth Whalers. The Spirit will play in Sarnia on Thursday March, 14 before returning to the Dow Event Center for their final two games of the 2013 OHL regular season on Friday and Saturday.
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Mar 09, 2013
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