The Windsor Spitfires dropped a 4-3 decision to the Kitchener Rangers on Friday.
The Spitfires scored a 1-0 lead with a goal by Aaron Luchuk 7:27 into the first period, but the Rangers tied things up with a goal of their own late in the frame.
Kitchener jumped ahead in the second with two back-to-back goals to take a 3-1 advantage heading into the third.
Tyler Angle scored for Windsor just over eight minutes into the final frame to bring the Spits within one goal, but the Rangers countered with another goal with nine minutes left to play. Windsor battled back in the final minutes with Luke Boka scoring late in the period, but the Spitfires weren't able to tie things up to force overtime.
Spitfires goaltender Michael DiPietro made 21 saves out of 25 shots on net.
The Spitfires return to home ice on Saturday for a rematch against the Rangers at 7:05pm.
