Matt Philip scored twice and added an assist in the IceDogs 8-2 win Thursday night over Flint.Ben Jones also counted a pair while Kirill Maksimov added three assists in the IceDogs 30th win of the year.
At 8:02 of the first, Bradey Johnson connected for his 11th of the year with Philip and Drew Hunter garnering assists. Two goals late, in just over a minute made it 3-0 after one. Willie Lochead's 5th came at 17:26 from Dan Singer and Akil Thomas, while Philip's 15th at 18:28 was assisted by Jones and Maksimov. A penalty free opening twenty saw Billy Burke's team fire 21 the way of the Flint net.
Ben Jones tipped in his 23rd on a great feed from Maksimov, an even better cross ice pass from Johnny Corneil got the scoring play underway at 1:34 of the second. 12:22 into the period, Ian Martin tapped in his 2nd on a pass from Justin MacPherson with Philip Tomasino adding a second helper. Liam Ham's 5th at 15:40 was snap shot over the goaltender's right shoulder, on a three way passing play with Tomasino and Oliver Castleman chipping in.
Two more in the third, this time on the power-play as Jones' second of the game at the two minute mark was set up by Thomas and Maksimov. Philip's 16th closed out the IceDogs onslaught at 8:34 from Corneil and Sam Miletic. A Flint even strength goal and a short-handed tally made the final 8-2. The final shot total favoured Niagara 48-23.
Niagara now has a one point lead for fourth in the OHL Eastern Conference.
610 CKTB 3 Stars of the Game...
1-Matt Philip
2-Kirill Maksimov
3-Philip Tomasino
Next up, a road date in Hamilton with the Bulldogs Saturday night. 610 CKTB will be there with the pre-game underway at 6:30.