There’s nothing quite like the thrill of getting your first OHL shut-out in front of sold-out crowd against an arch rival.

That’s exactly what Spitfire rookie goaltender Troy Passingham got, though, as the Windsor Spitfires beat the London Knights in front of 6,520 fans at the WFCU Centre on Thursday evening.

Before the game even started, the atmosphere was electric with cars over-flowing into the paid parking an hour before game-time. It reminded you of last year’s playoff run. The stage was set for what could be an epic battle.

Within 30-seconds of the opening draw, Windsor found themselves on a power-play. It would be their first of several in the period as the Knights ran into penalty troubles. Unfortunately for the Spitfires, Knights goaltender Michael Hutchinson was up to the task. He turned aside all 17 shots in the period and helped the Knights come out with a scoreless tie.

The tie continued well into the second period. Passingham battled Hutchinson toe-to-toe and refused to back down. He made key saves to preserve the tie. Early in the frame, Windsor went down two men as Scott Timmins and Mark Cundari were in the box. Solid penalty killing, though, shut the Knights down. Midway through the period, at 9:34, Richard Panik came around the net on the glove side of Hutchinson and put a wrap-around past him to give Windsor the 1-0 lead. Two-minutes later, Justin Shugg made it a two-goal game as Mark Cundari and Austin Watson drew the assists. It proved to be all that was needed.

With a narrow lead, neither team looked interested in playing the physical game as the third goal could easily make or break it. The result was a scoreless third with London having a 13-8 edge in shots. The Knights pulled Hutchinson late but couldn’t get anything past Passingham. He turned aside 33 shots through 60 minutes as the Spits take this one 2-0. Windsor out-shot the Knights 43-33 overall.

It was the first game of a four-game home-stand. The Spitfires are now off until Sunday afternoon when they welcome the Sarnia Sting to town. Game-time is 2 p.m.