Will Cranley Stops 39 Shots as Flint Beats Sarnia 4-1

By Carl Chimenti

For a second straight game, Sarnia (4-4-0-0) ran into a hot goaltender and that was the difference as the Flint Firebirds (4-4-0-0) beat the Sting 4-1, Wednesday night, at the Dort Financial Center, in Flint, Michigan.

Sarnia out played and at times dominated the Firebirds. Time after time goaltender Will Cranley (St. Louis Blues) was a brick wall, stopping 39 of 40 shots to steal two points away from the Sting.

The Sting had numerous odd man rushes and out shot the Firebirds in every period. Nolan Burke finally broke the shut-out bid with less than eight minutes to go in the game, after receiving a pass from Ty Voit (Toronto Maple Leafs) on the power-play. Rookie forward Porter Martone notched an assist on the play as well.

For Burke, it was his fourth straight game with a goal and his fifth overall. The Peterborough, Ontario, native, has scored points in every game but one this season. And speaking of points streak, Voit’s assist, ran his current streak to eight games. Martone’s assist was his second of the season.

Ben Gaudreau was strong in net, as he turned aside 25 saves on 29 shots and had no chance on any of the Firebird goals.

The Firebirds swept the three-star selections and in addition to Cranley (first star), forward Amadeus Lombardi (Detroit Red Wings) had two goals as part of a three-point night and was named the third star, while defenseman Dimitry Kuzmin (Winnipeg Jets), added a pair of assists, to garner the second star. Riley Piercey had a goal and an assist and Ethan Hay added a single tally in the win.

In the special team’s department, Sarnia went 1/7 on the power-play and Flint scored once on six chances with the man-advantage.

The two teams will wrap up the home and home series, Friday night in Sarnia, at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena.