A fast start and a lethal power play carried the Windsor Spitfires past the Soo Greyhounds on Sunday afternoon

For a game on the final day of the Ontario Hockey League regular season, there was a lot on the line for both teams.

For one, it was home ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs, while the other had a division title on the line.

In the end, the Windsor Spitfires came away with a 5-3 victory over the Soo Greyhounds Sunday afternoon at the GFL Memorial Gardens.

The win means the Spitfires will enter the OHL playoffs as the second seed in the Western Conference and as the West Division champions while the Greyhounds will enter the playoffs as the fifth seed in the Western Conference and go on the road to start the opening round.

The start to the game wasn’t an easy one for the Greyhounds, who struggled out of the gate and were outshot by a 10-2 margin in the first 20 minutes and trailed 2-1.

“The first 10, 15 minutes, we’re looking for shot volume, we’re looking for guys to take away time and space as quickly as we can and I didn’t see that mindset. A little disconnected,” Greyhounds coach John Dean said. “(In the) second, we brought more jam, but I still thought it wasn’t the Hounds. Then the third period, you could see us sense some blood and it might be an opportunity to have ourselves another comeback, but it doesn’t end up that way.”

Both coaches agreed that special teams played a role in the game.

Windsor finished the day with three power play goals in five opportunities while the Greyhounds had one in four chances, which included a lengthy five-on-three in the third period.

“Every time you lose the special teams battle, it’s critical,” Dean said.

The Greyhounds coach added that the team has felt good about its power play when up one man saying, “we’re threatening every time”, but added that “five-on-three needs to be better, crisper, quicker.”

“We slowed it down in a big way,” Dean added.

Spitfires coach Greg Walters called Windsor’s special teams “huge” in the game and credited his assistant coaches with the success.

“Casey Torres does an unbelievable job with the power play and Kris Newbury with the penalty kill,” Walters said. “It’s first (penalty kill) and second (power play) in the league and we showed why tonight.”

While agreeing that special teams factored into the game, Dean did say that he felt his team wasn’t at its best at even strength as well.

“I didn’t think we were particularly great five-on-five either,” Dean said

Windsor capitalized on a neutral zone turnover to get on the board first. John McLaughlin took the puck and got it to Liam Greentree, who skated into the Sault zone and into the slot before beating Carter George with a shot high stick side 4:40 into the opening period.

On the power play, Windsor took a 2-0 lead as Jack Nesbitt scored from the right side of the slot on a cross-slot feed from Anthony Cristoforo at 10:04.

The Greyhounds took advantage of a power play later in the period to cut into the Windsor lead. Jeremy Martin beat Windsor goaltender Joey Costanzo from the slot glove side on a pass from Marco Mignosa at 14:42.

In the second period, the Greyhounds tied the game as Travis Hayes took a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle through traffic that beat Costanzo stick side at 10:35.

Windsor would retake the lead at 18:34 as Nesbitt scored on a rebound at the edge of the crease after George stopped a shot by Greentree from the left circle initially.

The Greyhounds tied the game 53 seconds into the third as Mignosa grabbed a Windsor turnover in the left faceoff circle and beat Costanzo glove side to make it a 3-3 game.

Nesbitt gave the Spitfires a 4-3 lead at 10:26 as he jumped on a loose puck in the right circle and beat George glove side.

Cristoforo capped off the scoring for Windsor with a minute to go in the third as he scored into an empty net for the Spitfires.

Mignosa finished the day with a goal and an assist for the Greyhounds.

George stopped 21 shots in the setback.

Costanzo stopped 15 shots for Windsor.

Offensively, in addition to the three-goal day from Nesbitt, Cristoforo and Greentree had a goal and three assists each for Windsor.

With the loss, the Greyhounds finish regular season play with a record of 39-23-1-5 and will face the London Knights in the opening round of the playoffs, beginning Friday night in London.

The full series schedule is as follows:

Game 1 – March 27 at London, 7 p.m.

Game 2 – March 29 at London, 6 p.m.

Game 3 – March 31 at Sault Ste. Marie, 8:07 p.m.

Game 4 – April 1 at Sault Ste. Marie, 7:07 p.m.

Game 5 – April 3 at London, 7 p.m.*

Game 6 – April 5 at Sault Ste. Marie, 7:07 p.m.*

Game 7 –April 7 at London, 7 p.m.*

*- If necessary

The league had approved two potential schedules over the weekend ahead of Sunday’s game depending on whether the Greyhounds or Knights had finished in fourth spot with home ice advantage.

The Spitfires finish the regular season with a record of 44-15-6-3 and will face the Guelph Storm in round one of the playoffs.

Notes: On Saturday night, the Greyhounds announced their annual regular season award winners.

The award winners included overage forward Marco Mignosa, who was named the team most valuable player along with earning the three star and top scorer awards.

Chase Reid was named the best defenceman with the rookie of the year award going to Noah Laus.

Defenceman Harris Pangretitsch was named the Greyhounds most improved player while also sharing the scholastic player of the year award with fellow rookie blueliner Callum Croskery.

Jeremy Martin was named the unsung hero while Quinn McKenzie was named the most gentlemanly player and Spencer Evans earning the players player award.

Also presented on Saturday was the Dr. Lou Lukenda Memorial Award, which goes to the player who has overcome obstacles either on or off the ice but still became successful. This year’s recipient was Christopher Brown.