The Sarnia Sting sat several regulars Saturday in Flint and it showed as the Firebirds scored six goals in the second period enroute to an 8-4 victory.
Ethan Keppen opened the scoring for Flint ten minutes into the first period.
Jacob Perreault (29) tied the game at the 15: 24 mark.
Then the floodgates opened in the second with unanswered goals from Hakon Nilsen, two from Hunter Holmes, Emmet Pirce, Cody Morgan and Kyle Harris.
Sarnia goalie Cameron Lamour was replaced by Ethan Langevin to start the third after giving up seven goals on 30 shots.
Keppen scored for Flint two-and-half minutes into the final frame before Alexandre Hogue (5), Curtis Egert (14) and Calvin Martin (13) tallied for the Sting.
Sarnia associate coach Brad Staubitz said the one positive was winning the third period. "The whole game we gave up way too many odd man rushes, some systen breakdowns in the neutral zone that we've got to talk about, teach and learn from."
The two teams face off Sunday at 2:07 p.m. at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena in the final game of the regular season.
The pregame show starts at 1:35 p.m. on 103.9 FM - 1070 AM CHOK.
On Saturday London beat the Spirit 5-2 in Saginaw to clinch first place in the OHL's Western Conference.
That means Sarnia will meet the Spirit in the opening round of the playoffs.
Game one goes Thursday at 7:05 p.m. in Saginaw with game two in Saginaw Saturday at 7:05 p.m.
The Sting host games three and four Tuesday March 26 and Thursday March 28. Both games start at 7:05 p.m.
All the games will be broadcast on CHOK.