For a team that had just watched a late lead evaporate in Sault Ste. Marie two nights earlier, Windsor made sure the script flipped on Saturday.
The Spitfires held off a Greyhounds rally and then ended it in dramatic fashion, getting Johnny McLaughlin’s second goal of the night with 4/10ths of a second left for a 4-3 win at the WFCU Centre.
"Just a massive win and I couldn't be happier," said Spitfires' forward Johnny McLaughlin, who notched the winner on a feed from Caden Harvey. "Pretty fortunate to get that goal at that amount of time (and) just a great feed by Harvey."
McLaughlin’s late strike sealed the kind of win Windsor needed after an overtime loss Thursday, when the club let a late lead slip away against the West Division leaders. This time, the Spitfires were the ones doing the breaking.
Windsor jumped fast and built a 3-0 lead after one period. Jesse Debruyn opened the scoring, McLaughlin added another, and Bogdan Yakushevsky made it three before the first intermission.
Sault Ste. Marie answered with a goal in each of the final two periods, tying the game 3-3 midway through the third before McLaughlin finished it off on the power play at 19:59.
McLaughlin’s night went beyond the winner. He also had an assist, giving him a three-point game and extending a hot stretch that has seen him score in four straight. Over that span, he has six goals and eight points.
"He doesn't lose 50-50 pucks, he hits, I don't think I've coached a kid that's more competitive in his draft year as a 17-year-old," Spitfires' head coach Greg Walter said. "Now, you're seeing his skill set. Both those goals, just unbelievable release; quick."
The club’s first-round pick in 2025 admitted the start of his season was slower than he wanted, but the production has arrived in a hurry.
"It was coming, even though maybe not the best luck to start,'' said McLaughlin, who had just one goal and five points in the first nine games. "Just trusting the process."
Debruyn and Yakushevsky were joined on the scoresheet by McLaughlin, giving Windsor three goals from players eligible for the NHL Draft for the first time in 2027. Harvey and McLaughlin each had two-point nights.
The victory also gave Windsor some traction at home. The Spitfires now have back-to-back wins at the WFCU Centre after taking only one of their first six games there, and they’ve picked up five points in their last three outings to get back to .500 at 5-5-2-1.
"Playing in front of our great fans, they showed up like they do every night," McLaughlin said.
The bigger difference lately has been offense. Windsor is now 5-0-1-0 when scoring at least three goals this season, compared with 0-5-1-1 when it falls short of that mark. The team has scored 19 goals in its last three games.
"We always talk, it's all about offence," Walters said. "We were defending extremely well; we just weren't scoring.
Now, 19 goals in the last three games. The kids are feeling it, they're happy and we have a lot of fun and you can see it with our effort on the ice."
Saturday’s game also featured a response after a heavy hit in the first meeting between these teams. Windsor defenceman Andrew Robinson, who was hurt Thursday on a hit by Sault Ste. Marie’s Cam Anderson, missed the game with an upper-body injury.
Windsor native Thanasi Marentette, acquired in a trade with Peterborough on Tuesday, dropped the gloves with Anderson after not being on the ice for Thursday’s incident. Marentette, listed at six-foot and 220 pounds, squared off with the six-foot-four, 221-pound Anderson and came out on top in one of the game’s two fights.
"I didn't really like the hit on Robinson," Marentette said. "There's a code in hockey and I'm the type of player that will follow that code. Props to Anderson; he answered."
Anderson briefly went to the penalty box before heading to the Sault Ste. Marie dressing room for attention and later returning.
"He's so polite and a team guy," Walters said of Marentette. "He's a big, strong guy that makes our kids more comfortable.
“The boy can fight, that's for sure, we know that. More importantly, he blocked shots, he's following our structure, he's asking our coaches for systems and video every day.”
The Spitfires also took another injury hit during the game. Forward Beks Makysh left in the first period after taking a hit from Travis Hayes, who received a blindsiding minor penalty on the play.
Windsor was already without Robinson, Shawn Costello and Sam Wathier, all sidelined by upper-body injuries. Walters said he did not know whether any of the four would be available when the Spitfires return Thursday against the Erie Otters at the WFCU Centre.
The Greyhounds got a pair of third-period goals from Laus and Daley after Fitzgerald scored in the second, but Windsor had the final say. When the clock dipped under a second, McLaughlin buried the winner and sent the home team into the night with the result it had been chasing.
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