PORT HURON, MI - Nick Lindberg and Kris Vernarsky each tallied three points on Friday to key the Port Huron Icehawks to a commanding 7-3 victory over the Flint Generals at McMorran Arena.
Lindberg notched two goals and an assist and Vernarsky turned in one goal and two assists in the victory. Three defensemen also had big offensive nights for Port Huron. Ian Turner and Daniel Tetrault recorded a goal and an assist each and Jamie Lovell added two assists. Forward Jeremy Tucker also had a goal and an assist.
Flint's John DiPace opened scoring at 6:20 in the first period. Less than a minute later, Kyle Deck took advantage of the Generals first power play opportunity to give Flint an early two goal lead.
Port Huron soon regained their momentum, however, and exploded with six unanswered goals. The surge began midway through the first period when Turner and Tetrault scored less than two minutes apart to tie the game.
In the second period, Lindberg beat Flint goalie Matt Spezza twice to give Port Huron a two goal lead. His second goal came on the penalty kill and was Port Huron's first shorthanded tally this season.
The second period also saw two fights. Port Huron's Rory Smith dropped the gloves with Flint's Matt Chromy and Icehawk Jason Selleke tangled with Justin Styffe.
The Icehawks blew the game wide open in the third period with three more goals. Derek Merlini tallied his first goal of the season and Vernarsky also scored to make it a 6-2 game, before Flint's Ryan Jorde added a goal to break the Icehawks scoring streak.
The Icehawks were not finished with the Generals, however. With just 17 seconds left on the clock, Jeremy Tucker found the back of the net for Port Huron's second shorthanded goal of the night and the decisive 7-3 victory.
With the win, the Icehawks improve to 2-4-0-0 on the young International Hockey League season, while the Generals fall to 2-4-1-0.
The Icehawks outshot Flint 46-26 in the win. Icehawks goalie Larry Sterling made 23 saves on 26 shots, while Spezza stopped 39 of 46 shots.
The Icehawks will look for another win versus the Generals tomorrow when the two teams meet in Flint. The Icehawks are then off until next weekend when they face a home-and-home series with the Kalamazoo Wings. The series opens in Kalamazoo on Friday before shifting to McMorran Arena on Saturday.
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