London Earns Wednesday Night Victory over Flint
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Saginaw, Mich. – Stephan Seeger earned his first three-point night in the OHL but the Firebirds fell to the #3 London Knights 7-3 in a neutral site battle at the Dow Event Center on Wednesday evening.
The Knights started off the scoring 20 seconds into the game. From the left wing corner in the Flint zone, London’s Christian Dvorak passed the puck to Mitchell Marner at the bottom of the right circle. Marner then found Mete at the top of the right circle on a backhand pass who scored over Brent Moran’s left shoulder.
London’s Aaron Berisha converted on a defensive zone turnover at 7:29 of the opening frame before Kole Sherwood dished the puck from below the goal line to Chad Heffernan in the slot. Heffernan scored his sixth of the season blocker side past Moran to earn the Knights a three-goal lead after one period of play.
Matthew Tkachuk scored his first of the evening and 28th of the season when London defenseman Brandon Crawley crept into the zone and picked up the puck at the left circle. Crawley then slid the puck to Tkachuk at the right circle who buried for the eventual game-winning goal 6:49 into the middle frame.
JJ Piccinich earned the insurance goal for the Knights when defenseman Olli Juolevi found Chandler Yakimowicz below the goal line. Yakimowicz spotted Piccinich backdoor who lit the lamp for London’s fourth goal of the game with 9:42 remaining in the second period. Both Flint and London changed their goaltenders. Brent Moran was relieved for by Kyle Keyser for Flint and Tyler Parsons was relieved by Brendan Burke.
Flint scored their first goal of the game at 19:31 of the middle period when Keenan Reynolds sent the puck on the London net that eventually caromed off Stephan Seeger’s skate past Burke for Seeger’s first tally of the night.
The Firebirds brought the game within three goals at 10:50 of the third period on the power play. From below the goal line again, Luke Kirwan dished the puck to Stephan Seeger in the slot who went upstairs on the backhand for his second goal of the evening and fifth of the season.
The Knights scored 11 seconds later to quickly regain the four-goal lead. Defenseman Evan Bouchard slid the puck up the right wing wall to Marner in front of the penalty boxes. Marner then found Tkachuk at the left circle who toe-dragged past a Firebirds defenseman and scored on the backhand over Keyser’s left shoulder.
Just over three minutes later, Flint’s Nicholas Caamano split the defneseman and skated over the goal line behind the London net. Caamano found Kirwan in front who scored on the backhand with 5:48 remaining. Piccinich scored the final goal of the night with 2:12 remaining from the left circle blocker side past Keyser.
Despite outshooting the Knights 14-11 in the second period, London earned a three-period shot total of 38-33 over the Firebirds. Flint was one-for-one on the power play and Stephan Seeger was awarded third star honors.
The Firebirds are back in action Friday night on the road in Sault Ste. Marie. Puck drop is set for 7:07 p.m. (EST) against the Greyhounds at the Essar Centre. Fans can catch the game on the radio in Flint and Mid-Michigan on 1330 WTRX and online on the iHeartRadio App here. Dominic Hennig will call the action with pregame coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Photo Credit: James Nelson/Flint Firebirds
For media inquiries, contact:
Dominic Hennig
Director of Broadcasting & Communications
Flint Firebirds Hockey Club
[email protected]
(810) 519-9347
