Over the weekend of Oct. 28 – Nov. 3, the Saginaw Spirit had been in motion twice, with each video games on the highway. On Nov. 2, they traveled to Owen Sound to tackle the Assault, and on Nov. 3, they headed to Kitchener to tackle the red-hot Rangers.
The Spirit’s particular groups play helped cause them to a win towards the Assault, however they failed to duplicate their play within the second recreation of the weekend, as they misplaced to the Rangers.
Recreation Outcomes
Nov. 2 @ Owen Sound Assault: 6-2 win
Nov. 3 @ Kitchener Rangers: 4-2 loss
Story of Two Video games for the Energy Play
The Spirit have the firepower to be one of many Ontario Hockey League’s (OHL) high power-play unites, with the likes of Calgary Flames prospect Zayne Parekh, 2025 NHL Entry Draft prospect Michael Misa, and others. Nonetheless, they’ve appeared to wrestle to seek out consistency all through the season thus far. Their two video games over the weekend proved that, with the unit going three for six of their win towards the Assault however then going scoreless in three probabilities towards the Rangers.
When the Spirit are firing on all cylinders, they will make an influence play look phenomenal. The chemistry between Parekh, Misa, and Kristian Epperson is thru the roof. That was on show within the win towards the Assault, with all three gamers factoring into three power-play targets scored towards 2024 Los Angeles Kings draft decide Carter George. Their puck motion and zone entries had been crisp and regarded sturdy sufficient to permit them to arrange within the offensive zone, go to work, and assault towards the Assault.
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On the flip aspect, the ability play struggled mightily towards the Rangers, who’ve had one of many hotter and finest penalty-kill items within the OHL lately. They may not get any true zone entry into the offensive zone, and even after they did, the Rangers’ killers out-battled the Spirit to get the puck out of their zone and remove any true probabilities. Even with outshooting the Rangers 41-26, the ability play couldn’t generate a lot and certainly hampered a possibility to make a comeback within the recreation.
Spirit Unable to Break By Parsons
The Spirit performed towards two of the highest goaltenders within the league within the two video games, the Assault’s George and the Rangers’ Jackson Parsons. Whereas they broke by means of on George because of the shortage of a high-level group in entrance of him they may not do the identical towards Parsons. As an overage participant within the league, Parsons has thrown his title out as a participant to observe this season and stymied the Spirit’s nice scoring probabilities, giving up solely two targets on the 41 photographs he confronted.
The Spirit managed a lot of the motion within the recreation, displaying off their chemistry and offensive recreation whereas taking part in five-on-five and gave Parsons loads of visitors and work all through the sport. Nonetheless, he was as much as the duty and have become the primary goalie to assist his group maintain Misa off the scoresheet this season.
Penalty Kill Performs Robust
Whereas the ability play was a bit up-and-down within the two video games, the Spirit’s penalty kill was a powerful swimsuit. Mixed between the 2 video games, they killed off eight of the 9 power-play alternatives they allowed. In opposition to the Rangers, they took a few penalties as results of some undisciplined performs, however the penalty killers had been as much as the problem to efficiently kill them off. The unit obtained a handful of offensive zone probabilities on the drawback however was stymied by Parsons and the Ranger’s protection.
Different Weekend Notes
- The Spirit will likely be with out group captain Ethan Hay for the subsequent three video games, for a complete of 5 video games, after he was suspended earlier than the 2 video games.
- The Spirit’s first-round decide within the 2024 OHL Precedence Choice Draft, Dimian Zhilkin, tallied his first OHL level within the group’s win over the Assault.
- Goaltender Andrew Oke performed in each video games and made 60 saves on the weekend. He has performed in all however one recreation this season.
What’s Subsequent for Spirit
The Spirit return house for the week of Nov. 4 – Nov. 10, taking part in 3 times on the Dow Occasion Middle. They play the Peterborough Petes on Nov. 7 earlier than taking over the Windsor Spitfires (Nov. 9) and their in-state rival, the Flint Firebirds, on Nov. 10.
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