Firebirds Cruise Past IceDogs, 8-2
ST. CATHARINES, Ont. – Matthew Wang scored twice, Matthew Mania had a goal and two assists and the Flint Firebirds hung a season-high eight goals as they hammered the Niagara IceDogs, 8-2, on Friday night at Meridian Centre.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Firebirds opened the scoring in the first period when Mania hit Jeremy Martin at his own blue line. Martin charged through center ice, went wide around the defense and barreled in on net. He deked from his backhand to his forehand and tucked a shot past Owen Flores, giving the Birds a 1-0 lead.
Flint added to that lead later in the first period after Kaden Pitre sent a one-touch pass to Connor Clattenburg who burst into the attacking zone with a breakaway. Clattenburg deked and slid the puck through Flores’ five hole, making the score 2-0.
That lead grew further with three goals in the second period. First, Wang took a feed from Karlis Flugins and ripped a wrist shot home from just inside the left circle. Later, with Flint on a 5-on-3 power play, Mania was fed at the top of the right circle. He darted a shot through traffic and past Flores to extend the lead. Then, with the Firebirds on another power play, Blake Smith sent a shot from inside the blue line that got through and past Flores to make it 5-0.
Niagara’s Max Crete scored with two seconds left in the second period to get his team on the board but Flint kept rolling in the third. Pitre cashed in with a breakaway goal to push the lead back to five. After Ryan Roobreck answered for the IceDogs, the Firebirds connected again when Flugins and Nathan Aspinall combined to set up Wang for a back door tap in. Then, in the final two minutes, Nolan Collins fired a stretch pass to Alex Kostov who buried a wrist shot on a breakaway, extending the lead to 8-2.
Flint won for the second consecutive game and improved to 11-13-0-1 while Niagara dropped to 15-9-0-1.
POSTGAME NOTES:
Nathan Day got the secondary assist on Jeremy Martin’s goal, his second assist of the season…Martin has goals in three of his last four games…Karlis Flugins had two assists, his first career multi-point game…Nathan Aspinall had three assists, equaling the most a Firebird has had in a game this season.
UP NEXT:
The Firebirds are scheduled to play on Saturday night in Erie against the Otters. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. at Erie Insurance Arena.
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