Furious Flint Comeback Falls Short, 8-6
FLINT– The Flint Firebirds fell in a 6-1 hole, scored four times to bring themselves within one but ultimately were beaten by the Windsor Spitfires, 8-6, on Saturday night at the Dort Financial Center. Nathan Aspinall had two goals and an assist in the losing effort for the Firebirds.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
With the Birds trailing the Spits, 6-1 early in the second period, Karlis Flugins took off down the ice with Artem Frolov following. Frolov accepted the puck and slipped it past Joey Costanzo’s left pad into the goal, cutting the Windsor lead to 6-2.
The Birds continued to mount their comeback in the third period. With Flint volleying the puck around the Spits goal, Aspinall gave it to Matthew Mania who slapped home a one-timer from just below the blue line, making the score 6-3.
They then got another as when Hayden Reid grabbed a loose puck along the right wing boards and strode to the top of the circle. He darted a wrist shot through traffic and in, and the deficit was down to two.
Flint continued its onslaught as Mania hit Alex Kostov who carried the puck to the right wing corner. Evan Konyen slid in front of the goal and one-timed a pass from Kostov into the top shelf of the Costanzo’s net, getting the Bids closer with a score of 6-5.
Ilya Protas answered for Windsor seven minutes later. He chased down the puck with no teammates in sight, faked out Noah Bender in goal and slid it home giving the Spits a 7-5 lead. Aspinall immediately responded for Flint though as with the Firebirds pressuring on the forecheck, Windsor sent a pass in front of its own net. Aspinall snatched it and slid a shot past Costanzo to again bring the Birds within one
Protas then cemented things for Windsor with his third of the game. After Flint pulled Bender for an extra attacker, he sent a shot into the empty net to make the score, 8-6. Flint dropped to 17-21-2-1 in the loss while the Spitfires improved to 30-8-2-1.
Windsor grabbed its early lead thanks to four first period goals from Ryan Abraham, Carson Woodall, Anthony Cristoforo and Protas. Flint got one from Aspinall in the first period. The Spits pushed their lead to 6-1 in the second thanks to goals from Noah Morneau and Liam Greentree.
POSTGAME NOTES:
Matthew Mania scored and had two assists on his 20th birthday…Nathan Aspinall recorded his second two-goal game of the season…Artem Frolov scored his second goal of the season and his first since the season-opener on September 27 against the London Knights.
UP NEXT:
Flint will take on the Kitchener Rangers on the road next on Friday night. Puck drop will be at 7 p.m. at Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.
Photo: Todd Boone
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