Friday, April 30, 2010

Kassian scores as Windsor gets early jump

Zack Kassian scored his seventh goal of the playoff season Thursday as Windsor edged Barrie 5-4 to take a 2-0 series lead in the OHL Championship. Again placed on the Spits top unit with 2010 stud Taylor Hall and Devils prospect Adam Henrique, the big wing got underneath the Colts top pairing of Nick Crawford and Alex Pietrangelo and buried a breakaway backhander to put the Spits ahead 3-1 midway through the second period. Kassian now has 16 points and a +8 rating through 17 postseason contests. Crawford finished a team-low -3 in the loss, the Colts third of the playoffs.

In Tuesday’s game one, Crawford gathered an assist as Barrie let a one-goal lead slip away to lose in overtime, 4-3. The Spits forced the OT with 3:16 to play to set-up Hall’s clutch winner at 2:35 of the extra session. The helper was Crawford’s 11th postseason point for the Colts, while Kassian finished even for the Spits despite looking dogged by bumps and bruises from the seven-gamer with Kitchener.

The Colts and Spits will square off in game three Sunday at 2:00 at the WFCU Center in Windsor.