C.J. Clarke scored twice as the Flint Firebirds beat the Sarnia Sting in Flint Saturday night 7-5.
The game was between two teams jockeying for position in third place in the OHL West Division standings. Flint has 59 points while Sarnia has 58.
Jared Lindo opened the scoring for Sarnia in the first period with his 16th goal of the year. Ryan Moore tied it up on the power play for Flint but the Sting's Jordan Kyrou regained the lead for Sarnia with a power play goal of his own at just one second remaining in the period.
The Firebirds scored three unanswered goals in the second period. Ty Dellandrea scored his ninth of the year to tie the game up again. Then Clarke scored his deuce to increase the Flint lead to 4-2 halfway through the period. Anthony Salinitri got a goal back for the Sting before the end of the frame.
Nicholas Caamano extended the Flint lead just after the start of the third period to 5-3. The Sting then began to crawl back into the game with back-to-back goals from Kyrou (his second of the game) and Adam Ruzicka, tying the game up at five-all. The comeback effort would fizzle though as Flint regained the two-goal advantage before the end of the contest on goals from Kole Sherwood and Maurizio Colella.
Justin Fazio stopped 42 of Flint's 48 shots in goal for Sarnia. Garrett Forrest had 31 saves for the Firebirds.
The Sting return to Progressive Auto Sales Arena for a special Family Day matinee Monday against the Saginaw Spirit. Puck drop is 2:05pm.
