The Sarnia Sting head off to their Christmas break on a losing note.
Ty Dellandrea scored a hat trick for the Flint Firebirds on their way to a 5-2 win over the Sting Saturday night at Progressive Auto Sales Arena.
Sarnia is now in second place in the OHL West Division standings with 54 points.
The Sting fell behind in the first period due to two Flint goals. Connor Roberts put the Firebirds on the board at 5:08. Maurizio Colella's goal gave Flint a 2-0 lead by the first intermission.
Dellendrea put Flint ahead by three goals at 49 seconds into the second period with his tenth goal of the year and his first of the game. Sarnia then got back into the game with two unanswered goals in the frame. Theo Calvas scored his second of the season to break the shutout, then Anthony Salinitri's goal brought the Sting to within one by the end of the period.
That would be the closest Sarnia would get as the Firebirds got those two goals back late in the game, both from Dellendrea to complete his hat trick and both empty-netters after Sting goalie Justin Fazio was pulled for an extra attacker.
Fazio ended up with 35 saves in goal for the Sting. Garrett Forrest stopped 28 shots in net for Flint.
Sarnia returns after the holiday break on Thursday, December 28 when they host the Windsor Spitfires.