The Windsor Spitfires’ season ended with a flick of the wrist on Friday night as the Kitchener Rangers needed overtime to eliminate them from the 2025-26 Ontario Hockey League (OHL) Playoffs.
Coming into the Western Conference Championship, the second-seeded Spitfires knew they were in tough with the top-seeded Rangers. Despite each club having a strong season and playoffs, the Rangers seem to have the Spitfires’ number this season and in the playoffs, with two straight series eliminations (2023 and 2025). With Game 5 at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium and the home side up 3-1 in the series, history was about to repeat itself. Here are three takeaways from a chaotic Game 5.
After a tough 6-3 loss at the WFCU Centre in Game 4 on Wednesday, the Spitfires were hoping to rebound and send the series back to Windsor for Game 6 on Sunday afternoon. It looked promising early.
The Spitfires came out with energy, putting everything they could find on goaltender Christian Kirsch. Midway through the first, Anthony Cristoforo, Cole Davis, and Wyatt Kennedy all scored within two minutes, giving the visitors a 3-0 lead.
Before the period ended, Rangers’ veteran Luke Ellinas (Ottawa Senators) responded to make it 3-1. It was his first game since suffering an injury in late November. The goal gave the home side plenty of energy heading into the second period.
Early in the second, Christian Humphreys cut the lead to 3-2. The Spitfires got some momentum back before the period ended when A.J. Spellacy (Chicago Blackhawks) put it high on Kirsch to make it 4-2.
However, in the third, the Rangers pressed hard. Sam O’Reilly (Tampa Bay Lightning) scored on a partial breakaway, followed by Carson Campbell with 12 minutes left in the game, tying it 4-4. Overtime was required.
In the extra frame, Rangers’ veteran Dylan Edwards skated into the slot on an odd-man rush and fired home his 11th of the playoffs for a 5-4 win. It sent the crowd into a frenzy and his team to the OHL Championship for the first time since 2008. After the game, he said that, when you’re down early, you have to keep going.
“We just stayed disciplined there,” he said. “We got down early, but we have a great group and fought through it. All it was just keep battling, I thought we took it to them. It was getting pucks to the net.”
Rangers’ head coach Jussi Ahokas said he appreciated his team’s character and pointed to Ellinas’ return as a turning point.
“We gave up three but really showed character in how they came back,” he said. “A big thing, Ellinas coming back, last playing in November, that was a huge goal. After that, we kept going. After they got the fourth one (Spellacy), we didn’t stop believing. That’s what we have to do.”
Goodnight, #RTown. pic.twitter.com/BrrbnMJI6V
— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) May 2, 2026
Ahokas also mentioned O’Reilly, whom the club acquired from the London Knights at the trade deadline. The veteran won a Memorial Cup with the Knights last season, and Ahokas said that experience paid off on Friday.
“O’Reilly has played these games all of his OHL career,” he said. “It’s good that we have experience from these games. It gave us a little advantage.”
One of the Spitfires’ biggest issues in this series has been their special teams. Despite having both their power play and penalty kill in the top three of the OHL all season, they haven’t found consistency in the playoffs. In this series, they came into the game just one-for-17 on the power play and 10-for-15 on the penalty kill, where their best game, going three-for-three, was their lone win.
Unfortunately, Friday was no different. The Spitfires struggled to even get into the Rangers’ zone with the man advantage. It seemed like every time they tried something, the Rangers got the puck and dumped it right back out. When everything was set up, the home side blocked shots, got sticks in the passing lanes, or forced a turnover. A normally well-oiled machine had met its match.
Even a single goal could have swung the momentum for the Spitfires. After the game, head coach Greg Walters said the power-play struggles were the difference.
“Five-on-five, we outscored them 13-9 in the series,” he said. “We just couldn’t find a way to score some power-play goals. Special teams were the difference.”
On the other side, Ahokas’ coaching staff ran slick special teams that knew what to do no matter what the Spitfires threw at them. He said assistant coach Brad Flynn was a big reason for their penalty kill being so effective.
“(He’s) in charge of our penalty kill, and he’s done an unreal job,” Ahokas said. “Our guys commit to our system and how we want to play. How many shots we’ve blocked and played with good details. That’s huge.”
Ahokas also pointed to the power play and said that they work together as a team, and it doesn’t matter who’s on the ice. Everyone is important.
“You need a good special teams if you want to move on.”
This loss hurts for the Spitfires, the organization, and the fans. There’s no question, it’s going to sting for a while. For whatever reason, the Rangers have had their number since 2023. Does that mean it’s all doom and gloom, though? Absolutely not.
Despite struggling on special teams, the Spitfires did the City of Windsor proud. They were in every game, they battled throughout, and getting to the Western Conference Championship is not something every team can check off their “To Do” list.
When you take your opponent to overtime, one shot can make or break your season. It just happened to be that Edwards was the guy who made it happen for the Rangers. That’s worthy of a hat tip, not a head hang.
The Spitfires will likely replay various game situations in their heads for a while. That’s human nature. Once everything settles down, they’ll realize what they’ve accomplished – a West Division title and an incredible battle against a very tough opponent. The Rangers didn’t win the regular-season conference title for nothing. They’re loaded, they’re well-coached, and they were the better team this time. That’s nothing to be ashamed of from the Spitfires’ point of view. Ahokas gave the Spitfires credit after the game.
“If I look at the series, all in all, it was a tough series,” he said. “The Spitfires are a great team. They worked hard and battled hard.”
While the Rangers await the winner of the Eastern Conference Championship series between the Barrie Colts and Brantford Bulldogs, the Spitfires head home and get ready for whatever the summer throws at them. Fortunately, it won’t be long before the 2026-27 training camp gets started.
The big question: will the Rangers be able to celebrate this win for long? After Game 4 at the WFCU Centre, Ahokas said they would celebrate for 15 minutes, then move on to the next game. What about now?
“Maybe tonight, but then we’ll move on,” Ahokas said with a smile.
The OHL released the Championship Series schedule earlier this week. Game 1 will be on Wed., May 6. The rest of the games are every other day. The 2026 Memorial Cup is scheduled for May 22-31 in Kelowna, BC.
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