Birds Roll 67’s, 8-1
FLINT – The Flint Firebirds tied their season-high in goals as they buried eight on the Ottawa 67’s en route to an 8-1 win at the Dort Financial Center on Friday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Flint’s fourth line was a factor all night and scored the first two goals of the game in the first period. Josh Colosimo opened the scoring with his first career OHL goal. Colosimo followed up on the rebound from his shot on the right circle and swatted it past Collin MacKenzie to make it 1-0 Firebirds.
Colosimo would get back in the scoring column on his next shift, earning the assist on Karlis Flugins’ goal to make it 2-0. The Flint forwards drove the puck hard to the Ottawa net, and Flugins got the final poke on the puck to push it across the goal line.
Matthew Mayich scored for the 67’s later in the first period to cut the score to 2-1, but it was all Firebirds the rest of the way.
Midway through the second period, the Firebirds had a 5-on-3 powerplay and wasted no time. Connor Clattenburg picked up the puck off the face-off, cut towards the net, and backhanded it between the legs of MacKenzie to put Flint up 3-1. Matthew Wang added to the Firebirds’ total two minutes later. Wang split two Ottawa defenders as he entered the offensive zone, and snuck a wrist shot short-side on MacKenzie to give Flint a 4-1 lead entering the third period.
The floodgates opened up for Flint in the third period. Hayden Reid started the scoring barrage three minutes into the frame with his third goal of the season off an assist from Evan Konyen. Shortly after, Flugins scored his second of the night and third total on his rookie campaign.
Konyen joined the multi-point party in the third period, scoring his seventh of the season to make it 7-1 Firebirds. Less than a minute after Konyen, Wang notched another point on the scoresheet, firing the puck past MacKenzie to put the finishing touches on an 8-1 victory for Flint.
The Firebirds improved to 17-17-1-1 in the win while Ottawa fell to 14-15-2-5. Flint outshot the 67’s, 47-10, in the win.
POSTGAME NOTES:
Flint’s 47 shots were the most it has had in a game this season while the 10 shots against were the fewest by an opponent…Josh Colosimo finished with a goal and three assists for his first four career OHL points. He became the third Firebird with a four-point game this season…Connor Clattenburg’s goal extended his point streak to seven games, the longest by a Firebird this season. He now leads the team in goals (13) and power play goals (4).
UP NEXT:
The Firebirds hit the road for Brampton on Saturday afternoon to take on the Steelheads. Puck drop at the CAA Centre is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Photo: Todd Boone
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