Firebirds Clobber Battalion, 9-3
FLINT- The Flint Firebirds exploded for seven goals in the second period and hammered the North Bay Battalion, 9-3, on Friday night at the Dort Financial Center. Alex Kostov scored three times in the second and finished with four goals as he registered his first OHL hat trick.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Early in the second period, with the game tied at one, Rylan Fellinger rifled a shot from the blue line. Kaden Pitre deflected the shot in front of the net and the puck found nylon as the Birds went up 2-1.
One minute later they struck again. An offensive zone faceoff win turned into Chase Hull wrapping around the net and finding Kostov for a beautiful one-timer, to extend the lead to 3-1.
The charge for the Firebirds continued when Brady Smith threw a dime pass from the right wing corner to Pitre who was waiting wide open in the slot. Pitre would laser a shot into the net, giving him two goals in the period and a three goal lead for the Birds.
Two minutes later on the power play, Kostov would score his second of the game when Jimmy Lombardi won a faceoff from the left wing. Kostov found the puck and rifled one past Mike McIvor, turning the score to 5-1 Birds.
Flint then added two more as Rylan Fellinger cashed in on a breakaway before Lombardi banked a shot off a Battalion defenseman and in to push the lead to six. North Bay would eventually stop the bleeding as Jonathan Kapageridis deflected a shot past Mason Vaccari and the Battalion cut the lead to 7-2.
The momentum for the Battalion wouldn’t last long as Kostov struck again on some gorgeous tic-tac-toe passing from Nathan Aspinall and Smith. Kostov converted his first career hat trick and the lead was 8-2.
North Bay got one more in the third from Jax Pereira and Kostov added one late in the final frame. The first period goals were scored by Aspinall for Flint and Nick Wellenreiter for North Bay.
The Firebirds improved to 10-6-1-0 with their second straight win and North Bay fell to 9-8-0-0.
POSTGAME NOTES: Alex Kostov collected his 100th career OHL point on his 40th career goal. He also netted a career-high four goals including his first OHL hat trick….Kaden Pitre scored twice in his second game back after missing eight with an injury…Rylan Fellinger had his first three points of the season with one goal and two assists…Brady Smith tied a Firebirds franchise record with five assists in the game. His five assists were also a career-high.
Photo: Todd Boone
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