Aaron Luchuk scored twice as the Windsor Spitfires beat the Firebirds 6-1 Sunday afternoon in Flint.
Windsor is now in sole possession of third place in the OHL West Division with 15 points, and the Firebirds are behind them with 13. The win breaks a two-game slide following losses to the red-hot Sarnia Sting and the Peterborough Petes.
The first Windsor goals came 47 seconds apart late in the first period. Luchuk scored the first one and Mathew MacDougall followed with his third goal of the season.
Flint got on the board at 5:23 in the second period as Fedor Gordeev scored on the power play. Two minutes later, Nathan Staios, son of former NHL player Steve Staios, scored his first goal of the year for Windsor to make the score 3-1 Spitfires. Just before the period ended Luchuk tipped his second puck of the afternoon into the net.
The Spits added two more goals in the third period. Jake Smith and Luke Kutkevicius were the scorers.
Michael DiPietro stopped all but one of Flint's 35 shots in goal for Windsor. Garrett Forrest had 25 saves out of 31 attempts for the Firebirds.
Windsor starts its annual northern Ontario road trip on Thursday night, when they visit the North Bay Battalion.