[{"id":79752,"date":"2026-04-16T22:21:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T02:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/?p=79752"},"modified":"2026-04-16T22:21:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T02:21:38","slug":"ohl-highlights-game-4-april-16-2026-flnt-3-wsr-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/video\/ohl-highlights-game-4-april-16-2026-flnt-3-wsr-5","title":{"rendered":"OHL Highlights, Game 4, April 16, 2026 – FLNT (3), WSR (5)"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":79753,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[216],"tags":[{"term_id":232,"name":"2526 Game Highlights","slug":"2526-game-highlights","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":232,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":38,"filter":"raw","term_order":"1"}],"class_list":["post-79752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-video","tag-2526-game-highlights","category-216","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/04\/16221842\/DSC_4733-scaled.jpg",2560,1440,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":28959,"target_video":{"video_id":"2563771","partner_id":"30997","player_id":"47885","width":"640","height":"360","360p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/30997\/sd\/2563771.mp4","240p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/30997\/ld\/2563771.mp4","480p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/30997\/hsd\/2563771.mp4","1080p":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/30997\/fhd\/2563771.mp4","hls":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/30997\/streaming\/2563771\/2563771.m3u8","webp":"https:\/\/cdn.target-video.com\/live\/partners\/30997\/webp\/2563771.webp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":79750,"date":"2026-04-16T22:12:58","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T02:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/?p=79750"},"modified":"2026-04-16T22:12:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T02:12:58","slug":"firebirds-season-ends-with-5-3-loss-to-spitfires-in-game-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/article\/firebirds-season-ends-with-5-3-loss-to-spitfires-in-game-4","title":{"rendered":"Firebirds’ Season Ends With 5-3 Loss to Spitfires in Game 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLINT \u2013<\/b>\u00a0 The <\/span>Windsor Spitfires<\/span> completed a four-game sweep of the <\/span>Flint Firebirds<\/span> in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs, securing a 5-3 victory in Game 4 to clinch the series 4-0.<\/span><\/p>\n

HOW IT HAPPENED:<\/b><\/h3>\n

Flint came out with some juice, registering eleven shots on goal in the first ten minutes of the game. This led to James Paul clapping one home short side from near the boards just across the blue line to get the Birds on the board. This was the only goal of the first period, as Mason Vaccari stopped all 16 shots he faced.<\/span><\/p>\n

Early on in the second, Windsor got a power play and capitalized on it as Anthony Cristoforo netted his second goal in as many games. He stuffed home the puck from the left side of Vaccari\u2019s crease to even the score at one a piece.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The teams battled back and forth throughout the period, but late in the middle frame Cole Davis deposited a one-timer from John McLaughlin\u2019s pass to give the Spits their first lead of the night, headed into the final period of regulation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Early into the third period, Windsor picked up right where they left off as Carson Woodall sniped on the far-side and past Vaccari from the right circle to double the Spitfires lead. Halfway through the period, the Firebirds answered back as Nathan Aspinall rushed into the zone and beat Joey Costanzo via the five-hole to cut the lead back down to one.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moments later though, the Spitfires answered back once again. This time it was Jakub Fibigr who netted his second goal of the postseason on a short-side shot from the right circle, making it 4-2, Windsor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Late in the third, Flint was awarded their first power play of the game and it only took them twelve seconds to make it count. Jacob Battaglia found Darian Anderson down low, who roped a left-to-right cross-ice pass to Aspinall at the right circle where he one-timed home his second goal of the night, cutting it to one once again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The late surge from the Birds would not be enough as Jack Nesbitt scored the empty-netter to put the Spits up 5-3. This would be the final score as the Spitfires eliminated the Firebirds in Game 4, sweeping the series 4-0 to advance to the Western Conference Finals.<\/span><\/p>\n

POSTGAME NOTES:<\/b><\/p>\n

Nathan Aspinall scored his ninth and tenth goals of this playoff run, the most goals in a playoff run by a Flint Firebird in franchise history \u2026 Jacob Battaglia recorded his twelfth and thirteenth assists of this playoff run, the most for the Birds this postseason \u2026 Mason Vaccari stopped 32 of the 36 shots he faced tonight.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo: Todd Boone<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FLINT \u2013\u00a0 The Windsor Spitfires completed a four-game sweep of the Flint Firebirds in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs, securing a 5-3 victory in Game 4 to clinch the series 4-0. HOW IT HAPPENED: Flint came out with some juice, registering eleven shots on goal in the first ten minutes of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":79751,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[215],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-79750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-215","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/04\/16221239\/DSC_4697-1.jpg",2100,1500,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":28959,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":79748,"date":"2026-04-16T16:52:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T20:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/?p=79748"},"modified":"2026-04-16T16:52:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T20:52:28","slug":"three-firebirds-appear-on-nhl-central-scoutings-final-draft-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/article\/three-firebirds-appear-on-nhl-central-scoutings-final-draft-rankings","title":{"rendered":"Three Firebirds Appear on NHL Central Scouting’s Final Draft Rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLINT \u2013<\/strong> NHL Central Scouting released its final 2026 NHL Draft Rankings on Thursday three Firebirds have appeared on the list. Alex Kostov is ranked 73rd among North American Skaters, Dryden Allen is ranked 171st and Darian Anderson is ranked 186th.<\/p>\n

Kostov appeared on NHL Central Scouting\u2019s Midterm Rankings in January and was ranked 117th among North American skaters. He rises to 73rd following a regular season that saw him score 24 goals and add 31 assists over 47 games played. The forward also represented the Firebirds at the Connor McDavid OHL Top Prospects game in January.<\/p>\n

Allen was ranked 189th on the Midterm Rankings and received a W rating on the Preliminary Watch List in October. In his first season in the OHL, the defenseman appeared in all 68 of Flint\u2019s regular season games and totaled three goals and 21 assists.<\/p>\n

This is Anderson\u2019s first recognition from NHL Central Scouting. A native of nearby Brighton, Mich., the right wing joined the Firebirds in October and tallied 20 goals and 25 assists over 60 games during the regular season.<\/p>\n

The NHL Draft is set to take place on June 26 and 27 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo. The Firebirds have had at least one player selected in every draft since the franchise\u2019s inception in 2015. Flint is currently in the midst of a second round OHL Playoff series against the Windsor Spitfires. Game 4 will take place on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Dort Financial Center.<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FLINT \u2013 NHL Central Scouting released its final 2026 NHL Draft Rankings on Thursday three Firebirds have appeared on the list. Alex Kostov is ranked 73rd among North American Skaters, Dryden Allen is ranked 171st and Darian Anderson is ranked 186th. Kostov appeared on NHL Central Scouting\u2019s Midterm Rankings in January and was ranked 117th…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":79749,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[215],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-79748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-215","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/04\/16165216\/CentralScoutingFinalRanks_1920x1080.png",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":79746,"date":"2026-04-16T08:36:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T12:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/?p=79746"},"modified":"2026-04-16T08:36:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T12:36:25","slug":"game-day-round-2-game-4-firebirds-vs-spitfires-7-p-m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/article\/game-day-round-2-game-4-firebirds-vs-spitfires-7-p-m","title":{"rendered":"GAME DAY, Round 2, Game 4, Firebirds vs Spitfires – 7 p.m."},"content":{"rendered":"

ROUND 2, GAME 4 – Firebirds vs Spitfires<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Dort Financial Center<\/p>\n

Flint, Michigan<\/p>\n

7:00 p.m.<\/p>\n

Watch<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Listen<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Game Center<\/a> | Tickets<\/a><\/p>\n

LAST TIME OUT: Alex Kostov <\/b>scored in the third period to bring the Firebirds within one but Flint could not complete its comeback effort as it was beaten by the Windsor Spitfires, 2-1, in Game 3 on Tuesday night at the Dort Financial Center. Mason Vaccari <\/b>made 25 saves on 27 shots in the loss.<\/p>\n

BACKS AGAINST THE WALL: <\/b>The Firebirds now trail the Spitfires in the best-of-seven series, 3-0. Flint will need to win four straight in order to advance to the Western Conference Finals. The Birds and Spitfires split their regular season series, 3-3-0-0. The Firebirds are 3-4 all-time when facing elimination in the postseason.<\/p>\n

IT’S BEEN DONE BEFORE: <\/b>Windsor was in an identical position in the second round of the 2025 OHL Playoffs as it led the Kitchener Rangers, 3-0 after three games. The Rangers then rattled off four straight victories, two in shutout fashion, and eventually clinched the series with a 2-1 overtime win in Game 7. There are 14 players on Windsor’s playoff roster who were also with the team in the 2025 postseason.<\/p>\n

FINALISTS SQUARING OFF: <\/b>The OHL has announced both Mason Vaccari <\/b>and Joey Costanzo <\/b>as finalists for the Jim Rutherford Trophy for the OHL Goaltender of the year. Firebirds Head Coach Paul Flache <\/b>and Spitfires Head Coach Greg Walters <\/b>were also finalists for the Matt Leyden Trophy for the OHL Coach of the Year, which was won by Ottawa’s Dave Cameron<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

GOALTENDERS DUELING: Mason Vaccari <\/b>made 25 saves on 27 shots during the Game 3 loss while Joey Costanzo <\/b>stopped 18 of the 19 shots he faced in Windsor’s win. Vaccari (.927) and Costanzo (.925) are third and fourth respectively in the OHL Playoffs in save percentage. Costanzo is second in GAA at 1.86 while Vaccari is third at 2.02.<\/p>\n

ODDS AND ENDS: Alex Kostov<\/b>‘s goal in the third period was his third of the OHL Playoffs. Kostov had two goals and two assists against Windsor in four games in the regular season…Josh Bonnyman <\/b>made his OHL Playoff debut on Tuesday night…Liam Greentree, Anthony Cristoforo <\/b>and Jakub Fibigr <\/b>are tied for Windsor’s team lead with nine points apiece.<\/p>\n

UP NEXT: <\/b>Game 5, if necessary, is scheduled for Saturday night at the WFCU Centre in Windsor. Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ROUND 2, GAME 4 – Firebirds vs Spitfires Dort Financial Center Flint, Michigan 7:00 p.m. Watch\u00a0|\u00a0Listen\u00a0|\u00a0Game Center | Tickets LAST TIME OUT: Alex Kostov scored in the third period to bring the Firebirds within one but Flint could not complete its comeback effort as it was beaten by the Windsor Spitfires, 2-1, in Game 3…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":79747,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[215],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-79746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-215","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/04\/16083614\/4.-16-1920-vs-wsr.png",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":28959,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":79744,"date":"2026-04-14T22:01:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T02:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/?p=79744"},"modified":"2026-04-14T22:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T02:01:12","slug":"ohl-highlights-game-3-april-14-2026-flint-1-wsr-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/video\/ohl-highlights-game-3-april-14-2026-flint-1-wsr-2","title":{"rendered":"OHL Highlights, Game 3, April 14, 2026 – FLINT (1), WSR (2)"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":79745,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[216],"tags":[{"term_id":232,"name":"2526 Game 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Hold Off Birds in Game 3, 2-1"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLINT- <\/b>A defensive battle took place Tuesday night at the Dort Financial Center between the Flint Firebirds and the Windsor Spitfires in Game 3. The Spitfires took a 3-0 lead in the series after a 2-1 win.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

HOW IT HAPPENED:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

With just under four minutes gone by in the first period, Anthony Cristoforo deked his way into the offensive zone and reached for the rolling puck as Mason Vaccari also attempted a poke check. Cristofor\u2019s stick got there first, pushing the puck through the legs of the Firebirds goaltender to give the Spitfires a 1\u20130 lead.<\/span><\/p>\n

Early in the second period, AJ Spellacy stole the puck from Kevin He in the Spitfires\u2019 offensive zone. Spellacy drove hard down the left side, deked from his backhand to his forehand, and tucked the puck past the outstretched pad of Vaccari to make it 2\u20130 Spitfires.<\/span><\/p>\n

Late in the second period, Flint controlled the puck in the offensive zone, where Luka Graziano fired a shot that rang off the crossbar and bounced out, keeping the score 2\u20130 Windsor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two minutes into the third period, Flint finally broke through. Just as a power play ended, Graziano found Alex Kostov with a cross-zone pass. Kostov made his way into the slot before rifling a shot past the blocker of Costanzo, cutting the lead in half.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Firebirds pulled Vaccari for an extra attacker in the final minutes and mounted chances but could not equalize. Windsor held on to take a 3\u20130 lead in the series.<\/span><\/p>\n

POSTGAME NOTES:<\/b><\/p>\n

Alex Kostov tallied a goal, his third of the post season\u2026 Mason Vaccari made 25 saves on 27 shots\u2026 Luke Graziano and Jacob Battaglia each had an assist.<\/span><\/p>\n

UP NEXT:<\/b><\/p>\n

Flint and Windsor will meet for Game 4 on Thursday night, with the Firebirds needing a win to keep the series alive. Puck drop at the Dort Financial Center is scheduled for 7 p.m.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo: Todd Boone<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FLINT- A defensive battle took place Tuesday night at the Dort Financial Center between the Flint Firebirds and the Windsor Spitfires in Game 3. The Spitfires took a 3-0 lead in the series after a 2-1 win.\u00a0 HOW IT HAPPENED:\u00a0 With just under four minutes gone by in the first period, Anthony Cristoforo deked his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":79743,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[215],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-79742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-215","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/04\/14214647\/DSC_3880.jpg",2100,1500,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":28958,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":79732,"date":"2026-04-14T06:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T10:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/?p=79732"},"modified":"2026-04-14T08:54:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T12:54:05","slug":"game-day-round-2-game-3-firebirds-vs-spitfires-7-p-m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/article\/game-day-round-2-game-3-firebirds-vs-spitfires-7-p-m","title":{"rendered":"GAME DAY, Round 2, Game 3, Firebirds vs Spitfires – 7 p.m."},"content":{"rendered":"

ROUND 2, GAME 3 – Firebirds vs Spitfires<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Dort Financial Center<\/p>\n

Flint, Michigan<\/p>\n

7:00 p.m.<\/p>\n

Watch<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Listen<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Game Center<\/a> | Tickets<\/a><\/p>\n

LAST TIME OUT: <\/b>The Firebirds scored three times in the second period to take a two-goal lead but Windsor responded with three goals in the third as they went on to beat the Birds, 6-5, in Game 2 on Sunday evening at the WFCU Centre. The Spitfires took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.<\/p>\n

SHIFTED TO HOME ICE: <\/b>The series between the Firebirds and Spitfires has now shifted to Flint for Games 3 and 4 with the Birds trailing, 2-0. The Firebirds went 2-0 during their home games in the first round and were 22-8-3-1 at the Dort Financial Center during the regular season. Flint was 1-2-0-0 against Windsor at home in their six-game regular season series as opposed to 2-1-0-0 on the road.<\/p>\n

ASPINALL SCORES: Nathan Aspinall <\/b>scored twice during Game 2 in Windsor, his seventh and eighth goals of the postseason. He is now tied with Brantford’s Caleb Malhotra <\/b>for the lead in the OHL Playoffs. Aspinall now has three two-goal games during the postseason and is tied with Jacob Battaglia <\/b>for the team lead with 15 points.<\/p>\n

CREAM OF THE CROP: <\/b>The OHL announced on Monday that Firebirds goaltender Mason Vaccari <\/b>has been named a finalist for the Jim Rutherford Trophy for OHL Goaltender of the Year. Vaccari is the third Firebird to be honored as a finalist for a league award this postseason. Paul Flache <\/b>was named a finalist for the Matt Leyden Trophy for OHL Coach of the Year and Jimmy Lombardi <\/b>was named a finalist for the William Hanley Trophy for the OHL’s Most Sportsmanlike Player.<\/p>\n

AROUND THE OHL: <\/b>All four second round series are in action on Tuesday night. Every higher seed leads; in the East #1 Brantford is up 3-0 over #5 North Bay, #2 Barrie is up 2-0 over #3 Ottawa. In the West, #1 Kitchener is up 2-0 over #5 Soo and #2 Windsor is up 2-0 over #3 Flint.<\/p>\n

ODDS AND ENDS: Jimmy Lombardi <\/b>was 18-for-30 in the faceoff circle in Game 2. Including the regular season, it was the ninth time this year he has taken 30 or more faceoffs…Lombardi recorded his fourth multi-point game of the playoffs on Sunday. Only Nathan Aspinall <\/b>(5) has more…Anthony Cristoforo <\/b>had three assists on Sunday. He leads the series with five points, all assists.<\/p>\n

UP NEXT: <\/b>Flint and Windsor will clash for Game 4 on Thursday night. Puck drop at the Dort Financial Center is set for 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ROUND 2, GAME 3 – Firebirds vs Spitfires Dort Financial Center Flint, Michigan 7:00 p.m. Watch\u00a0|\u00a0Listen\u00a0|\u00a0Game Center | Tickets LAST TIME OUT: The Firebirds scored three times in the second period to take a two-goal lead but Windsor responded with three goals in the third as they went on to beat the Birds, 6-5, in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":79733,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[215],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-79732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-215","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/04\/13162350\/4.-14-1920-vs-wsr.png",1920,1080,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":28958,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":79735,"date":"2026-04-13T16:33:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T20:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/?p=79735"},"modified":"2026-04-13T16:33:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T20:33:13","slug":"mason-vaccari-named-a-finalist-for-the-jim-rutherford-trophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/article\/mason-vaccari-named-a-finalist-for-the-jim-rutherford-trophy","title":{"rendered":"Mason Vaccari Named a Finalist for the Jim Rutherford Trophy"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLINT \u2013 <\/strong>The Ontario Hockey League announced on Monday that Firebirds goaltender Mason Vaccari has been named a finalist for the Jim Rutherford Trophy, awarded annually to the OHL Goaltender of the Year.<\/p>\n

Vaccari played 51 games for the Firebirds in the regular season and turned in a record of 36-9-3-2 with a 2.70 GAA and a .907 save percentage. His 36 wins matched a Firebirds franchise record, equaling the 36 that Luke Cavallin had during the 2021-22 season, and were also the second-most in the OHL this season. The overage goaltender also set a Firebirds franchise record with four shutouts, which were tied for the second-most in the OHL.<\/p>\n

Joining Vaccari as finalists for the award are Ryder Fetterolf of the Ottawa 67\u2019s, Easton Rye of the Peterborough Petes, Carter George of the Soo Greyhounds and Joey Costanzo of the Windsor Spitfires.<\/p>\n

The Firebirds are in the midst of a second round playoff series against the Windsor Spitfires, set to continue with Game 3 on Tuesday at the Dort Financial Center. Flint will then again take home ice for Game 4 on Thursday. Puck drop for both games is scheduled for 7 p.m. and tickets are on sale now at the Dort Financial Center box office and online via ETIX.com<\/p>\n

Photo: Todd Boone<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FLINT \u2013 The Ontario Hockey League announced on Monday that Firebirds goaltender Mason Vaccari has been named a finalist for the Jim Rutherford Trophy, awarded annually to the OHL Goaltender of the Year. Vaccari played 51 games for the Firebirds in the regular season and turned in a record of 36-9-3-2 with a 2.70 GAA…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":79736,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[215],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-79735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-215","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/04\/13163123\/DSC_1776.jpg",2100,1500,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":79730,"date":"2026-04-13T13:26:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T17:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/?p=79730"},"modified":"2026-04-13T13:26:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T17:26:48","slug":"firebirds-weekly-roundup-2026-ohl-playoffs-week-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/article\/firebirds-weekly-roundup-2026-ohl-playoffs-week-3","title":{"rendered":"Firebirds Weekly Roundup, 2026 OHL Playoffs, Week 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLINT<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 After setting new franchise and OHL records in their first-game sweep of the Owen Sound Attack, Flint entered Round 2 with a familiar and formidable opponent. The Windsor Spitfires also swept their first-round series, albeit in less grandeur fashion. The Birds outscored the Attack 35-3 in four games. The Spitfires outscored the Guelph Storm 21-5 in a four-game sweep, matching up the second-seeded Spits with the third-seeded Firebirds for a Western Conference Semifinal matchup featuring two of the top goaltenders in the league.<\/p>\n

In Game 1 on Friday, Windsor jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in front of the home crowd at the WFCU Centre. Darian Anderson cut Flint\u2019s deficit in half late in the frame, scoring his fifth of the postseason. Both clubs tightened up defensively in the middle frame, with Joey Costanzo and Mason Vaccari combining for 11 saves on 11 shots. In the third, Brady Smith scored his third to tie the game with under eight minutes to go. A late penalty on the Birds, however, resulted in the go-ahead goal for Windsor with less than five minutes left. Pulling Vaccari didn\u2019t pay off, as the Spits hit the empty cage and skated away with the 4-2 victory and the 1-0 series advantage. Vaccari finished with 18 saves on 21 shots.<\/p>\n

RECAP<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0GAME CENTER<\/a><\/p>\n

Game 2 was also played in Windsor, and the Spits once again jumped to a quick 2-0 edge. Once again, Flint answered quickly moments later when Kevin He potted his third of the playoffs. Just as quickly, The Spits clapped back to extend their lead to 3-1. Chris Thibodeau struck for his fourth playoff tally before the first intermission, leaving Windsor on top 3-2. Flint would score three unanswered in the middle frame, starting with a power-play marker from Anderson and ending with back-to-back goals from team captain Nathan Aspinall. After 40 minutes, the Birds held a 5-3 advantage. Less than three minutes into the final stanza, Windsor rookie Caden Harvey scored his second of the night, pulling the Spitfires within one. It appeared that the game was tied briefly near the midway point of the third, before a goal was waved off for\u00a0 being played with a high stick. That didn\u2019t matter, however, as Windsor scored again on the very next shift, knotting the score at 5-5. Just when overtime seemed eminent, the Spitfires hit the game winner with exactly 60 seconds remaining in regulation. Both teams burned a timeout, and Vaccari hit the bench for an extra attacker for the second time in as many games, but the score didn\u2019t change. Game 2 went to the home team again, 6-5, putting Flint in a 2-0 hole in the best-of-seven series.\u00a0 In addition to Aspinall\u2019s two goals, Kevin He and Anderson each finished with a goal and an assist, and Jimmy Lombardi logged a pair of helpers.<\/p>\n

RECAP<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0GAME CENTER<\/a><\/p>\n

Across the pair of games versus the Spits this week, shots have remained very even with the slight edge going to Windsor 53-51. Faceoffs were lopsided in Game 1, favoring the Spitfires 41-27. Game 2 was nearly equal, with the Spits advantage being cut to only one, 29-28. The power play struck for two goals on seven chances, good for a 28.7% conversion rate. The penalty kill stopped four of six Windsor opportunities in the first game, and went untested in Game 2 as all of the Spits\u2019 penalties were part of offsetting infractions.<\/p>\n

LEADERBOARD<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aspinall and Jacob Battaglia are tied with 15 points apiece, tying them for second in the league. Aspinall\u2019s points are from eight goals and seven assists, tying him for the OHL lead in scoring. Battaglia has five tallies and the league\u2019s third-most helpers (10). Darian Anderson is tied for fourth league-wide with six goals, and has ten total points this postseason. Lombardi is tied with Anderson for third on the squad with ten points (4 G, 6 A). Vaccari has the third-best save percentage at .928 and the fourth-lowest goals-against average at 2.01. He joins a handful of goaltenders with one shutout in the playoffs, who all follow North Bay\u2019s Jack Lisson, who has two.<\/p>\n

COMING UP<\/strong><\/p>\n

The next two games in the series will be played at the Dort Financial Center on Tuesday and Thursday. Puck drop for both games is set for 7:00 p.m. If necessary, Game 5 will return to Windsor on Saturday with puck drop at 7:05 p.m. Should Game 6 be necessary, the series returns to Flint for a 4:00 p.m. start.<\/p>\n

Story: Brandon Mills<\/p>\n

Photo: Abby Kibler<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FLINT\u00a0\u2014 After setting new franchise and OHL records in their first-game sweep of the Owen Sound Attack, Flint entered Round 2 with a familiar and formidable opponent. The Windsor Spitfires also swept their first-round series, albeit in less grandeur fashion. The Birds outscored the Attack 35-3 in four games. The Spitfires outscored the Guelph Storm…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":79731,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[215],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-79730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-215","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/04\/13132633\/4089f5b3-1c19-4705-90f9-872cda7a1195thumbnail6166269614208630293.jpg",1280,960,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":0,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":79728,"date":"2026-04-12T19:11:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T23:11:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/?p=79728"},"modified":"2026-04-13T09:52:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T13:52:54","slug":"spitfires-best-firebirds-in-back-and-forth-game-2-6-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/article\/spitfires-best-firebirds-in-back-and-forth-game-2-6-5","title":{"rendered":"Spitfires Best Firebirds in Back-and-Forth Game 2, 6-5"},"content":{"rendered":"

WINDSOR, Ont. \u2013 <\/strong>The Flint Firebirds struck for three goals in the second period to take a 5-3 lead entering the third, but the Windsor Spitfires responded with three third-period goals and beat the Firebirds in Game 2, 6-5, on Sunday evening at the WFCU Centre. Windsor took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.<\/p>\n

HOW IT HAPPENED:<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the Birds trailing, 3-2 in the second period and skating with a power play, Kevin He fired a shot from the point that Joey Costanzo got a piece of. The puck bounced up and was knocked in by Darian Anderson as the Firebirds tied the game at three.<\/p>\n

Later in the second, Jimmy Lombardi lobbed a shot on net that Costanzo juggled, allowing Anderson to grab the rebound. His shot was stopped but Nathan Aspinall shoveled the rebound home, and the Firebirds took their first lead, 4-3.<\/p>\n

Flint then got another one with just over a minute to play in the third. Lombardi gathered the puck at the left circle with Costanzo sliding side to side in his net. He fed a pass to Aspinall at the right circle for a one-timer that got home and the Firebirds\u2019 lead grew to 5-3.<\/p>\n

Windsor though got things rolling again in the third. Early in the period, Andrew Robinson carried the puck along the left wing and fed Caden Harvey at the back post. He tapped the puck in to cut the Flint lead to one. Later, Jack Nesbitt scooped up a loose puck in the slot and shot it past a screened Vaccari to even the game at five.<\/p>\n

The Spitfires then went back on top with only one minute remaining in the game. Cole Davis took a shot that was blocked but the rebound found its way to Conor Walton. He loaded a snap shot and darted it past Vaccari, putting Windsor ahead, 6-5. The Firebirds would pull Vaccari for an extra attacker but could not equalize as the Spitfires held on for the Game 2 win.<\/p>\n

Windsor jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals from Harvey and Liam Greentree. After He answered with a goal from Flint, Davis scored to put the Spits up, 3-1. Chris Thibodeau then struck late in the first to cut the lead to 3-2 going into the second period.<\/p>\n

The Spitfires now lead the best-of-seven series, 2-0.<\/p>\n

POSTGAME NOTES:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Darian Anderson and Liam Greentree were each given game misconducts after their fight in the second period for a fight prior to or at puck drop\u2026Nathan Aspinall finished with two goals and now has eight, tied with Caleb Malhotra of the Brantford Bulldogs for the most in the OHL Playoffs\u2026Anderson and Kevin He both had a goal and an assist\u2026Jimmy Lombardi finished with two assists.<\/p>\n

UP NEXT: <\/strong><\/p>\n

The series will now shift to Flint for Game 3 on Tuesday night. Puck drop at the Dort Financial Center is scheduled for 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Windsor Spitfires<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WINDSOR, Ont. \u2013 The Flint Firebirds struck for three goals in the second period to take a 5-3 lead entering the third, but the Windsor Spitfires responded with three third-period goals and beat the Firebirds in Game 2, 6-5, on Sunday evening at the WFCU Centre. Windsor took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":79729,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"article","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[215],"tags":false,"class_list":["post-79728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-215","description-off"],"acf":[],"featured_image":["https:\/\/media.chl.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/04\/12191140\/ae594a7b-c0b7-4ef3-800b-1dc3d64141b5DSC06770-scaled.jpg",2560,1855,false],"hide_from_app_feed":false,"video":false,"gallery":null,"ht_game_id":28957,"target_video":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chl.ca\/ohl-firebirds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}]