Firebirds 7, 67’s 4
The Ottawa 67’s tried to claw their way back into it on Friday night at Flint and extend a five-game winning streak, but giving up five first-period goals on 10 shots proved to be too much to overcome.
Liam Herbst surrendered all five goals in the opening period and was back for the start of the second with his team trailing the Firebirds 5-1. Herbst’s save percentage on the night improved dramatically from that point on, however, as he gave up just two more goals and wound up facing 30 shots in the game.
His teammates, meanwhile, cut the lead to 6-3 in the second and pulled to within two in the third before Flint finished the 67’s off with a power-play goal at 14:47 of the third.
Ottawa fell to 5-4 on the young Ontario Hockey League season and will continue on the road with a game in Saginaw on Sunday at 4 p.m.
The 67’s outshot Flint on Friday, but Alex Nedeljkovic made 30 saves to pick up the win. Vili Saarijärvi scored twice for the Firebirds while singles went to Alex Peters, Francesco Vilardi, Connor Chatham, Josh Wesley and Jacob Collins.
Ottawa goals came from Jeremiah Addison, Jacob Middleton, Evan de Haan and Sam Studnicka.
