Hayes and Giroux Power Firebirds Past Sting, 5-1
SARNIA, Ont. — Zacharie Giroux and Gavin Hayes each scored twice, Hayes finished with four points in his 150th OHL game and Simon Slavicek extended his point streak to ten games as the Flint Firebirds hammered the Sarnia Sting, 5-1, on Sunday afternoon at Progressive Auto Sales Arena.
Hayes set up the first goal of the afternoon after emerging from a scrum behind the Sting net. He fed Giroux between the circles and Flint’s captain one-timed it low past the blocker of Nick Surzycia to open the scoring just 94 seconds into the contest.
More than 28 minutes would click off the game clock before the next scoring chance. Hayes disrupted a breakout pass in the neutral zone and Giroux hit him in stride as he entered Sarnia ice. He wristed a shot from the top of the right circle and a fortuitous deflection off the lone defender redirected the shot up and over Surzycia’s left shoulder to extend Flint’s lead to 2-0.
With under three minutes to play in the middle frame, Giroux fed Slavicek in neutral ice and the third-year forward returned the pass on the give-and-go. Giroux muscled a shot past Surzycia from the right-wing circle to put the Birds up by three.
In the third, with Sarnia skating with a man advantage, Hayes picked a defender’s pocket in the neutral zone and created a breakaway opportunity for himself. He carried the puck deep and buried his second of the afternoon 14th of the season low on the blocker side, extending the lead to 4-0.
The Sting broke the goose egg just shy of the midway point of the final period when Jacob LeBlanc ripped a shot through traffic from the high slot, beating Nathan Day over his left shoulder. The Bees called their netminder to the bench with nearly five minutes to go, but Coulson Pitre would cash in with an empty netter, putting the seal on the 5-1 triumph.
Hayes had a season-high four points with two goals and two assists, Giroux recorded two goals and an assist and Day made 23 saves on 24 shots to backstop the Birds to the win.
The Firebirds improved to 10-9-1-1 with the win while Sarnia dropped to 9-13-0-0. Flint returns to action on the eve of Thanksgiving on Wednesday night against the Saginaw Spirit. It’s the fourth of the of eight annual games that make up the I-75 Divide Cup, presented by Coors Light. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the Dort Financial Center.
Story: Brandon Mills // flintfirebirds.com