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Few players enjoy scoring a goal like Windsor Spitfires’ defenceman Conor Walton.
The six-foot-five, 208-pound Walton has scored two goals in 76 career games and both have been game winners.
“I love scoring goals,” the 18-year-old Walton said. “They don’t come very often for me, so when they do, I’m overjoyed.”
Walton’s latest came Monday as the Spitfires rallied from an early two-goal deficit to score a dominant 5-2 win over the Oshawa Generals before a crowd of 5,078 at the WFCU Centre.
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“No matter what they say, everybody wants to contribute offensively,” Walton said. “Defence is my game and my biggest attribute to the game, but I love scoring goals like anybody.”
After beating No. 1-ranked Mississauga on Friday, the Spitfires let a two-goal lead slip away in Erie on Saturday, but rebounded with the club’s most dominant performance of the season. The Spitfires did not allow Oshawa a power-play chance and outshot the Generals 50-17.
“One hundred per cent against a very good hockey club,” Spitfires’ head coach Greg Walters said in agreeing it was his team’s best showing in a young season. “Down 2-0 and felt we were playing unbelievable.
“It’s a credit to the kids. They stuck with it and that’s the sign of a real good team when you’re down 2-0 and they’re calm and saying, ‘We’re fine, just keep doing the right thing’ and we were able to comeback and win a huge hockey game.”
The shots were 4-0 for Windsor when Oshawa’s Beckett Sennecke converted a two-on-one to open the scoring. The shots were 6-1 when Luke Torrance batted a puck out of the air for a 2-0 Oshawa lead.
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“No one’s blaming anybody, nobody’s turning heads, nobody’s doubting anybody,” Walton said. “It’s just go, go, go, we’re going to get one and eventually they go in.”
Ilya Protas got Windsor’s comeback going in the second period. He took the puck away from an Oshawa defender, shook off a check, stepped in front and beat goalie Jacob Oster.
“I’m big guy and I need to protect the puck,” said the six-foot-five, 200-pound Protas, who had three points in the game and has seven points in his last three games. “That’s what I need to do and so happy I scored that goal.”
But Oster, who was the OHL’s goalie of the year in 2023-24, made life difficult for Windsor, which trailed 2-1 after 40 minutes despite holding a 33-12 edge in shots.
“Oster was really good and we knew the scouting report,” Walton said. “We had to get in front of him and get a lot of shots.”
Ryan Abraham got Windsor even just 36 seconds into the final period and Walton took a feed from captain Liam Greentree and beat Oster blocker side for the go-ahead goal.
“Proud of the guys that they were auto come out and play an unbelievable 60 minutes,” Walters said. “Two huge goals. Abraham and a great play by Greentree to set up (Walton) for an unbelievable goal.”
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Noah Morneau drew a penalty and scored on the ensuring power play and Greentree, who also had three points, finished things with an empty-net as the Spitfires improved their Western Conference-leading record to 6-1-1-0 on the season.
“You have to ride the highs and lows of a long, hard season, but right now it’s a good high,” said Walton, who was part of a Windsor club that finishing last in the Western Conference a year ago. “Obviously, it’s a little more sweet for the guys that were here last year.”
Windsor, which has played three of its last four games on the road, is away again on Friday with a game in Guelph against the Storm before heading to Owen Sound for a Saturday match with the Attack.
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Game Summary
Monday Result
Spitfires 5 Generals 2
Oshawa 2 0 0 – 2
Windsor 0 1 4 – 5
First period: 1. Oshawa, Sennecke 1 (Torrance, Griffin) 3:40, Torrance 1 (Sennecke, Sandhu) 6:27. Penalties: Sandhu O (roughing), O’Toole O (fighting), Nesbitt W (fighting) 8:16.
Second period: 3. Windsor, Protas 6 (Gaymes, Greentree) 5:04. Penalty: D’Amato O (tripping) 2:02.
Third period: 4. Windsor, Abraham 5 (Mathurin, Greentree) :36, 5. Windsor, Walton 1 (Greentree, Protas) 3:26, 6. Windsor, Morneau 4 (Protas, Cristoforo) 11:42 (pp), 7. Windsor, Greentree 3 (unassisted) 19:01 (en). Penalty: Griffin O (holding) 11:35.
Game stats – SOG – Oshawa 8 4 5 – 17 Windsor 15 18 17 – 50 Goal (shots-saves) – Oshawa: Oster (L,1-4-1-0) (49-45). Windsor: Costanzo (W,6-0-0-0) (17-15). Power play (goals-chances) – Oshawa 0-0. Windsor 1-3. Referees: Joe Monette (25) and Kuris Pare (42). Linesmen: Luke Pye (45) and Brandon Shaw (49). Att.: 5,078 at the WFCU Centre.
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