The Sarnia Sting returned from the Christmas break only to have the Firebirds score four unanswered goals, three of them in the first period enroute to a 4-1 loss in Flint.
Evgeniy Oksentyuk opened the scoring at 4:56 followed by goals from Jack Wismer and Brennan Othmann.
Late in the second period Wismer made it 4-0 Flint.
Brayden Guy (14) replied for the Sting with 19 seconds left in the period assisted by Nolan Dillingham and Ty Voit.
Flint's Anthony Popovich was outstanding, turning aside 41 shots.
Guy said that was the difference in the game. " I think he might have been one of the biggest reasons. When we had things going he was the reason we couldn't find a way to get back in it. We pushed pretty hard there in the second period but unfortunately we just couldn't do it enough."
The Sting had 18 shots in the second period and 14 more in the third.
Sarnia's Benjamin Gaudreau topped 28 of 32 shots.
The Sting host 402 rival London this afternoon at 4:05 p.m. with a capacity crowd expected.
The Sting defeated the Knights 5-3 on December 13 in London.
Guy said, "We played them not too long ago so I'm sure there's still some fresh blood. The games against them are always crazy and they're heated. If you can't get up for one of those games then I'm not sure you can get up for anything."
The pregame show starts at 3:35 p.m. on 103.9 FM - 1070 AM CHOK.
The Sting visit the Knights Tuesday at 4:00 p.m.
