Spits-Flint round two Friday

Anticipation is high as the Windsor Spitfires face the Flint Firebirds in a second-round showdown starting Friday night at the WFCU Centre.

Windsor earned home ice by finishing two points ahead of Flint in the Western Conference, and the teams split their regular season meetings — a sign of how tight this matchup could be.

“Flint's a pretty good team. We know what they do and what they're best at. I think we know what we need to do to exploit them,” said captain Liam Greentree.

Windsor vs Flint, starting Friday

The Firebirds come in red hot after sweeping Owen Sound, setting a league record with a 35-3 goal differential.

“They're dangerous,” said head coach Greg Walters. “We've got to manage the puck. They want to get in behind us and cheat for offense and we have to understand that and we have to take advantage of turnovers and just put pressure on their D. We gotta bring our fore-check and we'll be ok.”

Windsor is also coming off a strong finish, highlighted by an 11-3 series-clinching win.

“We really take pride in what we do in the d-zone and shutting down and our tracking rules and our where everyone is in the d-zone and making sure that our man-to-man coverage is on point,” said defenceman Andrew Robinson. “Playing our game, I don't think we have any worries about shutting them down. I think we just got to do what we've been doing all season, we'll be good.”

Even matchup, high stakes — exactly what you want as the playoff intensity increases with each game and each round.