Gabriel Vilardi had a hat trick and two assists as the Windsor Spitfires beat the Sudbury Wolves 7-1 Sunday at the WFCU Centre.
The Spits remain in the fifth place seed in the OHL Western Conference with 86 points, just two behind the Owen Sound Attack. Owen Sound would have home-ice advantage over Windsor in the first round of the playoffs should they have begun Sunday. Playoffs teams will continue to jockey for position in the last two weeks of the regular season.
It did not take until the last tow minutes of the opening period for the Spits to strike first. Jeremy Bracco scored his 24th of the season at that point. Vilardi would begin his magic in the second period with two back-to-back goals, the first just five minutes into the frame. His second goal gave the Spitfires a 3-0 lead and it stayed that way through the second intermission.
Vilardi assisted on Windsor's first two goals in the third period, the tenth of the year from Julius Nattinen, followed by a lamplighter from Logan Brown for a 5-0 Spitfires lead. Mario Culina's shutout effort was stopped after by a Wolves goal from Ryan Valentini at 10:13 in the frame. Windsor's Mikhail Sergachev scored 30 seconds after for a 6-1 lead and Vilardi completed the hat trick at five seconds left in regulation.
Culina stopped all but one of Sudbury's 23 shots. Jake McGrath faced 35 shots in goal for the Wolves and stopped 28 of them.
The Spits take on the top-seeded Erie Otters at the WFCU Centre Thursday night.
