Mason Vaccari made 26 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Flint Firebirds defeated the London Knights 5-0 at Canada Life Place on Jan. 2, 2026.
The Firebirds matched their nickname and came out firing.
They scored twice in the opening 20 minutes on goals by Kevin He who got behind the Knights defence and Jimmy Lombardi who tipped in a point shot on the power play and that gave Flint a 2-0 lead.
The Firebirds had a Josh Colosimo goal disallowed after it was determined that there was goaltender interference on the play.
Another Flint goal was called back in the second period, again due to goaltender interference, but the Firebirds managed to cash in later to extend their lead.
Darian Anderson deflected in his ninth goal of the year at 10:09 on a Flint man advantage to make it 3-0 through 40 minutes.
A missed pass early in the third period showed off what the Western Conference leading Firebirds can do as they nabbed the loose puck and went Alex Kostov to He to Brady Smith at the left post and Flint lead 4-0.
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Nathan Aspinall tacked on his 23rd goal of the year at 4:48 of the third to finish off the scoring.
London was 0-2 on the power play.
Flint was 2-for-3.
The Knights outshot the Firebirds 26-25.
Former Knights Matthew Tkachuk amd Olli Maatta headed to Olympics
More rosters have been unveiled ahead of the 2026 Winter Games in Italy.
The United States named 2016 Memorial Cup winner Matthew Tkachuk and his brother, Knights draft pick Brady Tkachuk to their squad that will look to avenge a loss to Canada at the 4 Nations Faceoff last year.
Two-time OHL champion in London, Olli Maatta will represent Finland at the Olympics for the second time. Maatta was a surprise addition in 1994 as a 19-year old. He has represented Finland internationally at three World Junior Championships, three World Championships and a World Cup.
Digging really deep, Jesper Bratt will play for Sweden at the Winter Games. Bratt was an Import Draft Pick of London’s in 2017. He played one pre-season game for the Knights and then went to New Jersey for training camp with the Devils and made the National Hockey League at 19.
Up next
London will visit the Oshawa Generals on Sunday, Jan. 4 at 2 p.m.
The Knights defeated Oshawa 5-3 on Dec. 19 at Canada Life Place.
London and the Generals have met in each of the last two OHL Championship series.
Oshawa is going through a down year in 2025-26. They currently sit in 20th place in the overall Ontario Hockey League standings.
Coverage will begin at 1:30 p.m. on 980 CFPL, at www.980cfpl.ca and on the iHeart Radio and Radioplayer Canada apps.
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