Spirit take 5 of 6 possible points, closing out weekend by clinching a playoff spot with 6-3 victory over the North Bay Battalion

 

Former Spirit forward Ethan Cardwell scored in overtime to give the Barrie Colts a 6-5 OT victory over Saginaw on Thursday night, which kicked off the northern leg of a 3-game Ontario Hockey League eastern conference road trip; while the Spirit (36-16-3-2) managed to bounce back with a convincing 10-6 victory over the Sudbury Wolves Friday, before eventually capping the weekend with a playoff clinching 6-3 victory over the North Bay Battalion (thanks to Sarnia's 4-2 win over the Soo) on Sunday afternoon, taking 5 of a possible 6 points this week.

 

The Spirit wasted little time, jumping out to an early lead Sunday with three consecutive goals in the opening frame when DJ Busdeker (from Ilya Solovyov and Damien Giroux at 2:10), Blade Jenkins (from Busdeker and Giroux at 5:00) and Cole Perfetti (from Cole Coskey and DJ King at 6:43) each scored in the first period for a 3-0 Saginaw lead heading into the first intermission.

 

Saginaw continued its offensive onslaught throughout the middle frame, adding three more unanswered goals from Giroux, who buried his thirty-eighth of the season (from Busdeker and Reilly Webb at 4:11 of the second) followed by his thirty-ninth of the season (from Jenkins and Busdeker at 12:59) while rookie Josh Bloom added his sixth of the season (from Perfetti at 17:55) for a 6-0 Spirit lead after two periods of play. 

 

North Bay forward Chad Denault (19:22 of the second) scored a late second period goal for the Battalion to cut the Saginaw lead to 6-1, before a pair of third period goals when North Bay forward Shane Bulitka added a power play goal at 7:04 of the third, followed by a goal from forward Alex Christopoulos at 18:31 of the third to round out the scoring (6-3) in the final frame.

 

Saginaw goal tender Tristan Lennox stopped 24 of the 27 shots he saw in net for the Spirit, while former Saginaw netminder Cameron Lamour turned away 15 of the 21 shots he faced while in between the pipes for the Battalion Sunday. 

 

The Spirit return home this weekend, welcoming the Kingston Frontenacs to the Dow Event Center for a 7:07 pm face off at the Dow Event Center Friday night in downtown Saginaw, MI: