Flint, Mich. – The Firebirds defeated the visiting Owen Sound Attack on home ice Sunday to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 6 is scheduled in Owen Sound Tuesday, with the possible Game 7 returning to the Dort Financial Center Wednesday. Amadeus Lombardi led the offense for Flint, scoring twice in a span of 59 seconds and earning an assist en route to ‘First Star’ honors. Ethan Keppen (Vancouver Canucks) logged a goal and an assist to earn ‘Second Star.’ Between the pipes, Luke Cavallin made 36 saves on 37 shots in a very impressive outing. Cavallin was named the game’s ‘Third Star.’ For the Attack, Nick Chenard stopped 23 of 28 shots-faced before being relieved by Corbin Votary for the final 13:07 of play.
Flint sustained pressure in the Owen Sound zone for a good portion of the opening 10 minutes, holding a 7-4 edge on the shot clock by the midway point. Both teams were throwing bodies around and leaving very little space for plays to develop. After 20 minutes, the game remained scoreless. Shots ended at 10-9 after the Attack controlled more of the latter half of the frame. The Birds outdrew the Bears 7-5, and neither team saw penalty time in the stanza.
The second period began with a flurry of scoring. After losing the opening faceoff, Flint applied heavy pressure in the Attack zone, forcing a turnover along the boards. Ethan Keppen picked a defender’s pocket along the wall and slid the puck out to a wide-open Coulson Pitre in the high slot. Pitre’s wrister found paydirt low to the blocker side for his second marker of the postseason only 16 seconds in. Amadeus Lombardi was credited with the second assist.
Less than a minute later, Zacharie Giroux fed Riley Piercey in with space high between the circles. Piercey faked a shot, then slid a low-velocity pass to his Captain Othmann (New York Rangers) skating left-to-right across the top of the crease. Othmann cradled the pass and showed patience, waiting for Chenard to commit before slipping the puck around the netminder’s outstretched left pad at ice level. Othmann’s third of the playoffs gave Flint the 2-0 edge at the 1:08 mark.
Owen Sound put Flint on the power play at 1:43, only to send one past Cavallin before the two minutes expired. An errant pass by the Flint power-play unit resulted in a two-on-one break in the other direction. Servac Petrovsky raced up the left side of the ice, with Colby Barlow a stride behind to his right. Petrovsky made the last-second pass across the top of the crease, which Barlow redirected behind Cavallin for his second of the season.
To conclude second-period scoring, Flint defender James Mayotte fed Zack Terry on the right side with a point-to-point pass. Terry launched a slapper on net, which deflected off the equipment in front and went straight up into the air. Keppen was in place to knock it home once it returned to the playing surface for his third of the playoffs at 3:57.
Second-period shots ended in Flint’s favor 13-9 for a two-period advantage of 23-18. In the faceoff circles, the Birds outdrew the Bears 12-9 for a two-period total edge of 19-14. Flint’s penalty-killers got the job done, but the power play ended 0-for-4 with a shorthanded goal-against in the frame.
Just past the five-minute mark of the third period, and with the Firebirds on the man-advantage, Dmitry Kuzmin (Winnipeg Jets) slapped one on goal from the left point. Chenard came out to the far right side of his crease to safely kick the rebound to the end boards. Amadeus Lombardi picked up the loose puck and skated behind the cage before tucking the wraparound home, resulting in his third of the playoffs at 5:12.
Less than a minute later, and with Flint on a power play, Luca D’Amato made a defensive-zone breakout pass to Lombardi. The first-year forward was immediately off to the races with a pair of rearguards in tow. Neither defender was able to catch him, as he stickhandled between the hash marks. From point-blank range, Lombardi slipped the puck glove-side on Chenard for his second of the night at 5:12, assisted by D’Amato and Kuzmin. Nick Chenard was relieved by Corbin Votary immediately following the Birds’ fifth goal.
Despite holding onto a 5-1 lead, the Firebirds’ defense was showing dedication and grit, blocking shots in the final minutes while shorthanded. Riley Piercey dropped twice in the final 30 seconds to block a pair of slap shots from the left point before they could get to Cavallin. It paid off, as the score held at 5-1 until the final horn sounded.
Final shots ended 37-32 with the Attack on top. Flint outdrew the Bears 28-23 in the contest. On special teams, the Firebirds ended with one power-play tally on seven chances. Owen Sound was unable to convert on four chances but did net one shorthanded tally in the game.
Next Up: Game 6 will be played in Owen Sound Tuesday beginning at 7:00 (ET) Tuesday. Fans can follow along on the radio throughout Flint and Mid-Michigan on US 103.1 FM, online at www.us103.com, or by downloading the US 103 app here. Jack Sznewajs will call the play-by-play action on the Firebirds Hockey Network (FHN), with the pregame coverage beginning prior to puck drop at 6:40 p.m. (ET). Game 7, if necessary, will be back in Flint on Wednesday, at 7:00 pm. Follow flintfirebirds.com for updates about on-sale dates and times.
Story:Â Brandon Mills /Â flintfirebirds.com
Photography:Â Todd Boone / Flint Firebirds
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