A comeback fell short Sunday afternoon as the Windsor Spitfires lost to the Otters in Erie 5-4 in a shootout.
The Spitfires overcame a two-goal deficit in the third period and held the first-place Otters to one shot in that frame to force overtime and a shootout.
Erie maintained sole possession of the Western Conference lead over the London Knights and have already clinched a playoff berth. The Spitfires gain a point to sit at 74 points and second place in the OHL West Division standings.
Alex DeBrincat opened the scoring for Erie at 4:05 in the first period. Windsor's Gabriel Vilardi tied the game up after the 11-minute mark, but the Otters would regain the lead about four minutes after that on a power-play score from Warren Foegele.
The score was 2-1 Erie at the start of the second period, but at 1:17 in Ivan Lodnia extended the Otters' lead to 3-1. Jeremy Bracco got that goal back for Windsor at 4:16 in the period. Erie took a 4-2 lead into the locker room at second intermission thanks to Kyle Maksimovich's 15th goal of the year.
The Spitfires defence clamped down for the third period and they were able to tie the game at 4-4 by the end of regulation. Vilardi and Bracco each scored their second goals of the contest, with Bracco's coming at 17:24 in the third stanza.
The overtime period had Windsor taking three shots on Erie goalminder Joseph Murdaca, with Erie getting one shot on Windsor's Michael DiPietro. Dylan Strome and Lodnia scored for Erie in the shootout to pull out the close win.
Windsor returns home Thursday night to host the Sarnia Sting.
