By DAVE BORODY
SAULT STE. MARIE – It was a game the Sarnia Sting would like to forget all about.
The Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds handed the Sting their worst loss of the season, 9-2, Sunday night before 3,777 fans at the Essar Centre.
The Sting completed their three-game Northern Ontario road trip with just one point out of a possible six as their overall record fell to 12-9-0-2 in the Ontario Hockey League.
The Greyhounds, who entered the game with five consecutive losses and losers of nine of their last 11, scored on two of their first three shots. In fact Sault Ste. Marie scored four goals in a span of 13 minutes to take a commanding 4-0 lead after one period.
The Sting had previously given up six goals in a 6-3 loss at Guelph earlier this month.
The Greyhounds extended their lead to 6-0 after two periods.
The Sting played their first game of the season without their captain and leading scorer, Alex Galchenyuk due to the flu. The first round pick of the Montreal Canadiens, (third overall), has 35 points so far this season on 13 goals and 22 assists.
Galchenyuk has been hot of late with five goals and nine assists over his last six games.
Rookie Nikolay Goldobin played left wing on the big line with Charlie Sarault and Reid Boucher.
Defenceman Anthony DeAngelo was back after missing Friday’s game against Sudbury with the flu.
Rookie Brodie Barrick started in goal for the Sting, but was pulled after allowing two goals on three shots in just over six minutes of work. J.P. Anderson finished.
Craig Duininck spoiled Justin Nichols shutout bid with his fourth goal of the season on the power play early in period three. DeAngelo and Sarault picked up assists.
Reid Boucher scored the other Sting goal, his 13th of the year, late in the period.
Each team had 31 shots on goal.
Scoring for Sault Ste. Marie were Nick Cousins with two goals while singles went to Andrew Fritsch, Trent Mallette, Dylan Staples, Colin Miller, Jared McCann, Michael Schumacher and Sergey Tolchinsky.
Sarnia was one-for-seven on the power play while Sault Ste. Marie was one-for-three.
The Sting now prepare for three games this week in three days. They host the London Knights Thursday at the RBC Centre, play at Kitchener Friday night and return home to face the Peterborough Petes Saturday night. Both home games begin at 7:05 p.m.
Tickets for all home games of the Sting are on sale daily at the RBC Box Office, by calling 519-541-1717 or going online at Sarniasting.com
- It’s expected that Sting forward Nick Latta will play again for Germany at the World Junior Hockey Championships in Russia over the Christmas break. Latta played with Team Germany last year.
- Nick’s father, Ken Latta once played for the Greyhounds.
- Other scratches for the Sting included Davis Brown, David Nemecek and Mike DiPaolo.
- Sunday’s game was the fourth of the year between the two clubs. Each team has two wins. They play one another four more times.
- Sarnia came into the game ranked third in the league in both power play and the penalty kill.
