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Jack Nesbitt plays with a little extra motivation.

For the NHL draft-eligible center, that little extra spark helped produce his first Ontario Hockey League hat trick Thursday in a 7-5 win over the Owen Sound Attack in front of a crowd of 4,788 at the WFCU Centre.

“I think he knew that,” Nesbitt said of overage forward Noah Morneau, who beat him late with a pass for an open goal to seal the victory and secure his three-goal performance. “(Morneau) looked for me and said he hoped it was me who came down. It means a lot.”

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Earlier this week, the 186-pound Nesbitt was not among the 22 Canadian Hockey League players, which included 10 OHL players, selected to compete in the two-game CHL USA Prospects Challenge next month.

“Definitely hoping to get a shot, but it is what it is and put it past me,” Nesbitt said.

A day later, the NHL Central Scouting Bureau released its watch list of players for the 2025 draft and Nesbitt received a B grade that projects him to be taken in the second or third round.

“Obviously you hope for an A grade, but a B grade is good,” Nesbitt said. “I try not to worry about it, but it’s certainly (motivation) 100 percent.”

Nesbitt could have soured a little, but instead the Spitfires’ 2023 first-round pick just pushed a little harder on the ice Thursday.

“You want A grades, the first round, and being a B makes you work harder and you have to earn it,” Nesbitt said. “It lights a fire and I just have to keep doing my thing and hope it works out.”

Nesbitt’s performance helped the Spitfires, who are ranked No. 6 in the CHL, extend the team’s winning streak to four games and maintain the top spot in the OHL overall standings at 9-1-1-0.

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“It’s definitely an off game for us a little bit,” Nesbitt said.

Windsor had held its opposition to two goals or less in six of the team’s first 10 games and was about to do so again with a 5-2 lead in the third period.

“We were OK the first 40 (minutes) and the last 20 I thought was the worst period we’ve played all year,” Spitfires head coach Greg Walters said. “We just didn’t like the behavior.

“We didn’t play north-south, tried to make a lot of sweet plays (and) I thought we looked for scoring night and cheated a little bit.”

On the power play and with the goalie on the bench for a six-on-four advantage, Landen Hookey’s second goal of the game had the Attack within a goal with over two minutes to play, but the Spitfires held.

“It’s good to get those kinds of games out now,” said Spitfires overmatched defenseman Tnias Mathurin, who had two assists and was a plus-six. “There is so much to learn in the third period.”

With the early season success, Mathurin said it’s sometimes easy to forget this is still a young Windsor team learning and growing after last year’s last-place finish in the Western Conference.

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“With the amount of rookies and young guys we have in the lineup right now, all that means is we want to have a good team and obviously want to win, but at the same time everything we do is giving young guys experience so, when the playoffs come, we can really execute,” Mathurin said.

Morneau, Liam Greentree, Ilya Protas and rookie Ethan Garden also scored for the Spitfires with goaltender Carter Froggett making 15 saves to earn his first OHL win.

Sam McCue, Pierce Mbuyi and Ben Cormier also scored for the attack, which was without captain and Windsor native Konnor Smith as he recovers from an upper-body injury that could keep him out for two months.

Meanwhile, Spitfires forward Cole Davis returned to the ice after missing four games with an injury. However, he was taken on the boards by offensive defenseman Max Bleicher, who received a major and game misconduct cross-check, in the second period.

Davis had to be stretchered off the ice, but manager Bill Bowler said he suffered no breaks or fractures from the hit.

However, Davis is listed as week-to-week as he recovers and will not be in the lineup Saturday when the Spitfires host the Niagara IceDogs at the WFCU Center. Game time is 19:05

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Game Summary

Thursday’s results

Spitfires 7 Attack 5

Owen Sound 1 1 3 – 5

Windsor 1 3 3 – 7

First period: 1. Windsor, Morneau 5 (Spellacy) 3:50, 2. Owen Sound, McCue 4 (Kindree) 4:50. Penalties: Mbuyi OS (double less high knitting) 5:05, Petrovski OS (cross check), Spellacy W (roughing) 6:07.

Second period: 3. Windsor, Greentree 7 (Protas) :20, 4. Windsor, Protas 9 (Cristoforo, Mathurin) 4:27, 5. Owen Sound, Hookey 6 (Crawford) 11:05, 6. Windsor, Nesbitt 6 (Greentree) 12:00 (sh). Penalties: Bleicher OS (fighting), Gaymes (fighting) 2:49, Mikus OS (fighting), Walton W (holding, fighting) 6:29, Hookey OS (misconduct), Eichler W (misconduct), Protas W (unsportsmanlike conduct) 12 :00, Bleicher OS (cross check major, foul) 1:05 p.m., Outwater W (interference) 2:32 p.m.

Third period: 7. Windsor, Nesbitt 7 (Belchetz, Outwater) 2:08, 8. Owen Sound, Mbuyi 4 (Varosyan) 9:47, 9. Owen Sound, Cormier 3 (McCue, Petrovski) 11:09, 10. Windsor, Garden 2 (Spellacy, Mathurin) 15:08, 11. Owen Sound, Hookey 7 (Cormier, Waddick) 17:29 (pp), 12. Windsor, Nesbitt 8 (Morneau, Abraham) 19:52 (sv). Penalties: Gaymes W (holding) 5:54, Tersigni OS (roughing), Garden W (goalie interference), Gaymes W (roughing) 16:21.

Game Statistics – SOG – Owen Sound 8 5 7 – 20 Windsor 16 12 6 – 34 Goals (shot saves) – Owen Sound: Koprowski (L,1-2-0-0) (33-27). Windsor: Froggett (W,1-1-1-0) (20-15). Power play (goal chances) – Owen Sound 1-4. Windsor 0-3. Judge: Hillary Brennan (6) and Ryan Hutchison (20). Linemen: Brad Horan (75) and Brandon Shaw (49). To.: 4,788 at the WFCU Center.

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