Firebirds Dominate from Start to Finish, Take Down Guelph 9-5
November 5, 2022 – Ontario Hockey League (OHL) – Flint Firebirds News Release
Flint, Mich. – The Firebirds began scoring early and often, with the Storm refusing to go away quietly in a high-scoring affair Saturday evening. Flint’s nine goals tied a franchise record for the most scored in a single game on home ice. Zacharie Giroux led the offensive charge for the Birds, scoring twice and chipping in two helpers for his first career four-point contest. Giroux was the game’s ‘First Star,’ while Simon Slavicek (3 A) earned ‘Second Star’ and Coulson Pitre (1 G, 2 A) rounded out the top three with ‘Third Star’ accolades. Braeden Kressler (Torton Maple Leafs) scored twice and finished rated +4 and defender Tristan Bertucci had two assists and a +3 rating. Both teams utilized two netminders over the 60-minute affair, with Nathan Day getting the start for Flint and Jacob Oster starting for the Storm.
The game started with a flurry of shot attempts on Jacob Oster in the Guelph end, with Flint maintaining possession for most of the opening three minutes of play. After five minutes the shots read 6-1. It took until almost seven minutes before Dmitry Kuzmin (Winnipeg Jets) leaned into a one-timer off a rebound at the left point. The shot made it through traffic and ended up in the back of the net for Kuzmin’s first of the season, recorded at 6:56. Simon Slavicek and Zacharie Giroux picked up the assists.
After Giroux’s goal, the floodgates opened. Riley Piercey netted his eighth of the season off a breakaway at even strength at 13:59. Coulson Pitre and Tyler Deline combined for the assists. Brennan Othmann lit the lamp on the power play at 16:47 off a nice pass from Zacharie Giroux across the slot. Gavin Hayes (Chicago Blackhawks) picked up the second assist.
Alex Bradshaw then scored his second OHL marker at 17:06 with a short-range rising wrister from atop the right circle, which resulted in a change in goaltenders for the Storm. Both Nathan Aspinall and Marko Stojkov earned their first OHL points with assists on the tally.
The Firebirds’ onslaught continued from there. With Dixon Grimes now in net, Luca D’Amato slapped a big shot from the right point that was turned aside by the blocker. Braeden Kressler snagged the rebound behind the goal line to Grimes’ left and banked the puck off the back of the goaltender’s equipment for his seventh of the campaign at 18:17. Tristan Bertucci added the second assist on the play.
Flint outshot the Storm 16-6 through the opening 20 minutes of play. Faceoffs also favored the Firebirds 15-8. With the man advantage, the Birds ended 1-for-1 and kept Guelph scoreless in one chance.
The second period was completely different than the first. Valentin Zhugin potted his third goal of the year 15 seconds in off the rebound of a point shot from Sasha Pastujov (Anaheim Ducks). Then, Tristan Bertucci made a spot-on breakout pass from deep in his own end to spring Coulson Pitre free on a breakaway in the other direction. Grimes’s poke check caused the puck to rise straight into the air in front of the crease, but Pitre hit the brakes and backhanded it out of midair for his fifth of the season at 1:10.
Things settled down from there until the Firebirds took back-to-back minor penalties with around six and then five minutes remaining in the middle frame. The first penalty was killed off, but then Guelph had a chance on an open net with a one-man advantage before the second expired. Day was at the outer edge of the crease to his left to make a save, and a follow-up shot came in from his right off the rebound. Flint’s newest defenseman Marko Stojkov dropped in front of the shot and made the save while his netminder recovered, maintaining the 6-1 lead for the Birds.
Guelph’s second marker of the game came inside the final minute of period two. Cooper Walker won an offensive zone faceoff back to Valentin Zhugin on the right half boards. Zhugin fed Cedricson Okitunu centered high between the circles, and he sniped the top corner glove-side for his third of the season at 19:11
Guelph outshot the Firebirds 16-12 in the second period, and faceoffs ended at 14-13 in favor of the Storm. Guelph was scoreless on three power-play chances while Flint didn’t receive an opportunity with the man advantage.
The team traded goals early to start the third period. First it was Zacharie Giroux earning his second goal of the season and third point of the game at 1:42 while shorthanded. Slavicek was credited with the lone assist on the play. Then, Niko Minkkinen scored his first two goals of the season in a span of 70 seconds, both on shots from the point. Jake Murray and Danny Zhilkin (Winnipeg Jets) assisted on the first of Minkkinen’s tallies, which came on the power play at 2:30. His second marker was at even strength at 3:40, assisted by Hunter McKenzie and Jake Karabela.
Kressler struck paydirt again at 6:35 to extend Flint’s lead to 8-4 at the 6:35 mark. Coulson Pitre carried across the blue line and made the drop-pass to Riley Piercey just across the blue line. Piercey finished the tape-to-tape pass to Kressler on the far side of the slot just ahead of his defender for the one-timer behind Grimes.
Zackary Sandhu delivered a slapper on net from the left point five-plus minutes later, which Day comfortably blockered aside to his right. Ben McFarlane redirected the rebound behind Flint’s rookie netminder for his third of the season at exactly 12:00, with assists from Sandhu and Cooper Walker.
The final goal scored in the contest was the second from Giroux at 16:00. Simon Slavicek slipped and was sliding across the high slot on his knees when he somehow managed to backhand the pass directly to Giroux waiting to the right of Grimes. Ethan Hay was credited with the second helper.
Final shots on goal came to 38 for Flint and 35 for the visiting Storm. In the faceoff circles, Guelph won 26 compared to Flint’s 35 draws. On special teams, the Firebirds went a perfect 1-for-1 while limiting the Storm to one goal on six opportunities.
Next Up: The Firebirds hit the road for a Sunday matinee tilt in Sarnia with the Sting. Puck drop for the road contest is set for 2:05 p.m. (ET) at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena. The Birds will return to home ice on Friday to host the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds for a 7:00 p.m. opening faceoff.
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