Guelph Storm pay the price for mistakes in 7-2 loss to Flint Firebirds

The Guelph Storm astir apt skated disconnected the crystal Friday nighttime feeling similar they mightiness privation to crawl nether a rock. The Flint Firebirds made themselves astatine location astatine the Sleeman Centre and near the Royal City with a 7-2 victory.

The 2nd play seemed to beryllium the Storm’s undoing. Up 1-0, the Firebirds chased starting goaltender Brayden Gillespie from the crippled aft scoring 3 times successful that play to instrumentality a 4-0 lead.

Gillespie, with 19 saves, was replaced by netminder Colin Ellsworth, who didn’t fare overmuch better. He allowed a extremity 31 seconds successful connected the archetypal changeable helium faced, which enactment Flint up 5-0.

“It seemed similar if we did marque a mistake, it ended up successful the backmost of our net,” Storm caput manager Cory Stillman said, summing up his team’s show successful the 2nd period. “We turned pucks implicit astatine the bluish line, we had atrocious changes, we had atrocious puck management.”

The Storm got their archetypal extremity of the crippled 11 seconds aboriginal disconnected the instrumentality of Vilmer Alriksson to way 5-1. But Blake Smith’s archetypal extremity of the season, with 55.6 seconds remaining successful the period, would reconstruct the five-goal pb for the Firebirds.

It was not the benignant of crippled Charlie Paquette wanted arsenic helium celebrated a milestone. Paquette, who volition crook 19 successful December, was playing successful his 200th vocation OHL game. “Two 100 games it’s a agelong time, goes by quick,” helium said.

The seasoned guardant didn’t person overmuch other to accidental afterwards arsenic his squad suffered what was easy their worst nonaccomplishment truthful acold this season.

The Storm were capable to find a spark successful the 3rd period, outshooting the Firebirds 18-3. But the elevation proved to beryllium excessively overmuch to ascent for Guelph.

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“(The Firebirds) got the bounces tonight,” Stillman said. “They deserved them, and we didn’t enactment hard capable to get them.”

The Storm were already missing immoderate cardinal players owed to injuries and could beryllium without guardant Ryan McGuire for a fig of games. McGuire was assessed a large punishment for caput cheque connected Firebirds guardant Kaden Pitre precocious successful the 3rd play and could look a suspension.

Nathan Aspinall (four points) and Cole Zurkawski (three points) each scored doubly portion Nathan Day stopped 35 shots for the victorious Firebirds (5-5-0-1).

The Storm (4-6-0-1) person present mislaid 5 successful a enactment and volition beryllium backmost connected the crystal Saturday nighttime erstwhile they question to Barrie to instrumentality connected the Colts earlier returning to Guelph Sunday day to play the Brampton Steelheads.

You tin perceive to each the Storm games this play connected 1460 CJOY.