Jake Durham scored a hat trick as the Flint Firebirds beat the Sarnia Sting 6-2 Saturday night at the Dort Federal Event Center.
The Sting stand pat with 43 points in the OHL West Division, good for third place.
The Firebirds opened the scoring when Durham lit the lamp with his first goal of the game, at 2:15 of the opening period. Hugo Leufvenius tied the game for Sarnia exactly nine minutes later.
Durham broke the tie 13 seconds into the start of the middle period with his second goal of the contest. Flint added two more goals before the end of the frame from Ethan Keppen and Ty Dellandrea.
It was 1:21 into the third period when Durham completed the hat trick and extended the Flint lead to 5-1. Sarnia pulled goaltender Ethan Langevin at that point and went with backup Cameron Lamour. The Sting was able to squeeze out a goal soon after when Mitch Eliot scored on the power play, but the Firebirds sealed it with a Hunter Holmes goal.
Langevin and Lamour stopped 28 shots between them for the Sting. Emanuel Vella had 44 saves for the Firebirds.
The Sting next host the Erie Otters on Friday night.