Saginaw, Mich. – It was only fitting at the Saginaw Spirit and Flint Firebirds met on Groundhogs Day for their 14th meeting of the year, and third-straight. After Saginaw snapped a 1-8 stretch vs. Flint this past Sunday at the Dort Financial Center, the Firebirds returned the favor tonight at the Dow Event Center in dominating fashion. Amadeus Lombardi picked up First Star honors with a four-point night (1 G, 3 A), Ethan Keppen (Vancouver Canucks) followed suit with three points (1 G, 2 A) for Second Star honors and Luke Cavallin got the start in net for the Firebirds stopping 36 of 37 for Third Star honors. Tristan Lennox (New York Islanders) got the start for the Spirit before being relieved after 20 minutes of play for Andrew Oke.
The 1st period started with a turnover by the Spirit defense in their own end that resulted in Flint taking the 1-0 lead. Ethan Keppen picked up an errant pass between Saginaw defenders in the high slot. He wasted no time lifting a wrister high to the blocker side for his eighth of the season, unassisted at 5:32 of the opening frame. Keppen stretched his point streak to seven games.
First-period shots ended 11-7 in Saginaw’s favor. The faceoffs were 15-12 in favor of the Firebirds after one period. Flint was unable to convert on two power-play chances, and the Spirit went scoreless on one opportunity with the man-advantage.
The Spirit outshot the Firebirds 7-0 to start the 2nd Period of play, and 11-5 for the frame. but it was Flint who found twine first. After Luca D’Amato sent one in deep, Sahil Panwar got the defense to collapse around him to find a wide-open Brennan Othmann who buried home his 30th goal of the year to give him the outright lead in the goal-scoring race in the OHL 7:46 into the 2nd.
The Firebirds weren’t done there. A great tic-tac-toe 3-on-2 rush from Ethan Keppan, Simon Slavicek and Amadeus Lombardi found Lombardi bury one with a one-timer for his 16th of the year at 10:01 mark of the 2nd. Less than two minutes later, Calem Mangone came streaking in along the wall and quickly snapped one home low to the blocker of Cavallin to get Saginaw on the board 11:56 into the 2nd. It made the game 3-1 and was unassisted.
The Firebirds would get it back. On the powerplay, a faceoff win from Lombardi led to an absolute missile off the stick of Dmitry Kuzmin for his 2nd goal of the year at the 13:49 mark of the 2nd to make it 4-1 Flint. Then in the final minute of the middle frame, good passing from Lombardi and Keppen found Riley Piercey slipping into the slot who roofed one passed Lennox with 59 seconds left in the period to give Flint the 5-1 lead. As mentioned, Saginaw outshot Flint 11-5 in the period and face-offs were dead even at 11 apiece.
The 3rd Period proved to be much of the same for Flint, with Andrew Oke relieving Tristan Lennox to start the frame. On the powerplay, good passing from Zacharie Giroux and Tyler Deline found Sahil Panwar alone in the near-side circle who put one home with Riley Piercey screening in front to make it 6-1 Flint 5:10 in 3rd. The Firebirds added the 7th and final tally with under five minutes left in the game. Samuel Assinewai went in hard on the forecheck, forced a turnover and sent it out to the slot. Lombardi was there, made a nice move and dropped a no-look pass on the stick of Tag Bertuzzi who buried it with 4:57 left.
The Spirit outshot Flint 37-26 for the game, while the Firebirds outdrew Saginaw 41-30. The Birds also went 2-for-4 with the man-advantage. Saginaw went 0-for-5.
Next Up:Â The Firebirds hit the road again Friday night at 7:30 p.m. to take on the Kitchener Rangers at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. Jack Sznewajs will have the pre-game coverage on US 103.1 FM at 7:10 p.m.
Photography:Â Todd Boone / Flint Firebirds
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