A little home-cooking goes a long way.

After a disappointing loss in Saginaw to end last weekend, the Windsor Spitfires came home and took care of business, beating the Sault Greyhounds 4-1 at the WFCU Centre on Thursday night.

Last weekend, the Spitfires beat the Hounds 7-4 in the Sault and did it by peppering goaltender Robin Lehner with more than 60 shots. Lehner was out of the line-up tonight but the game-plan early on seemed to be the same – get the puck on net!

It worked as they put 21 shots on goaltender Bryce O’Hagan after 20 minutes. They also found the net twice in the period. Taylor Hall, while on the power-play, took a pass from Cam Fowler and put a one-time shot over O’Hagan’s glove to make it 1-0 Windsor.  The goal came at 15:13. A minute later, a shot on net resulted in a scramble in the crease. The puck laid on O’Hagan’s pad before being pushed over the line. Scott Timmins got credit for the goal and Windsor had the 2-0 lead heading into the locker room.

A far more even second period saw goals evened out, too, as both teams managed to light the red once. At 8:21, Adam Henrique and Taylor Hall came in on a two-on-one break. Hall passed to Henrique, who put a move on O’Hagan before putting in his 14th of the season. That gave Windsor the 3-0 lead. Before they could announce the goal, though, the Hounds would respond. Michael Quesnele took a pass on the power-play from across the slot and put it past Spits’ goaltender Troy Passingham, reducing the lead to 3-1.

The third period saw the teams battle back-and-forth with neither able to do much about the score. O’Hagan and Passingham stood tall in their nets. It wasn’t until the final two minutes that Windsor would put this one to rest. At 18:24, Hall and two teammates came in on a rare three-on-nothing breakaway and Hall slid it between O’Hagan’s pads to give Windsor the 4-1 lead. With little time remaining, they would hold the lead take it by the same score. The final shots on net were 45-20 Windsor.

With the win, the Spitfires improve to 14-3-0-3 on the season, while the Sault drops to 10-8-0-1 on the year.
The Spitfires have no time to enjoy the win as they now head up the 401 to face the Kitchener Rangers for what could prove to be one of the biggest tests of the season. The Rangers are 12-1-1-2 on the year and have moved up to #2 in the CHL Top 10 rankings, two ahead of Windsor, who is now #4 after being #3 last weekend.

Windsor returns home on Sunday afternoon as the Oshawa Generals make their only appearance at the WFCU Centre this regular season. Game-time is 2 p.m.