A system and method including a radially non-uniformly plugged flow-through honeycomb substrate positioned upstream of a wall-flow particulate filter for controlled thermal regeneration of the wall-flow particulate filter, the flow-through honeycomb substrate having a flow-through region including a first portion of parallel channels and a flow-control region including a second portion of parallel channels, the first portion of the parallel channels including unplugged channels and the second portion of the parallel channels including plugged channels, with the flow-control region adjusting flow distribution through the flow-through honeycomb substrate.