By DAVE BORODY

ERIE, Pa. – “We need to play 60 minutes a game. We haven’t done that yet.”

Those were the words of Sarnia Sting assistant coach Chris Lazary after the team dropped a 7-3 decision to the Erie Otters in front of 5,105 fans at the Erie Insurance Arena.

The Otters scored four unanswered goals in the third period, three of them on the power play, to erase leads of 2-0 and 3-1 the Sting enjoyed in the first period.

“Obviously we had a pair of two-goal leads and we were humming right along,” said Lazary. “But we lost our detail a bit. It’s tough when you give a team like that a five-on-three early in the third period when you are only down by a goal. After they scored, we became unravelled after that.”

He added, “When there’s 5,000 fans in here going bananas, and the game got rough, you have to control yourself and make the right decisions. We made some bad decisions. We need to stay out of the box.”

The Sting did an excellent job on the penalty kill for two periods before the Otters went to work in the third period. They finished three-for-six with the man advantage while Sarnia had just one power play the entire game and failed to score.

The Sting jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a pair of goals a minute and a half apart in the opening period.

Patrick White got the first one finishing off a nice cross-ice pass from Davis Brown. Daniel Nikandrov also assisted. Brown got the second goal chasing down a loose puck and firing home a wrist shot. Anthony DeAngelo drew the lone assist.

After Erie cut the lead to 2-1, Sarnia went ahead 3-1 when Alex Renaud found the top corner on a long wrist shot. Jakob Chychrun had the only assist.

The Otters got back in the game with their second goal late in the period and then tied the game with the only goal, 14 minutes into the second frame to square matters 3-3 after 40 minutes.

Erie took their first lead just over a minute into period three after a Sting turnover and then knocked in three straight power play goals in less than six minutes to put the game out of reach. One of the three goals was with a two-man advantage.

Connor McDavid, who many expect to be the top pick in the 2015 National Hockey League draft, had two goals and two assists. He now has 12 points in four games. McDavid’s linemate, Alex Debrincat also had two goals and two assists.

Darren Raddysh and brother Taylor Raddysh had the other Erie goals.

Erie held a 30-21 edge in shots on goal. Devin Williams appeared shaky in goal for the Otters allowing three goals on nine shots in period one. But the Sting could not take advantage as they mustered just five shots in period two and seven in the third period.

Justin Fazio took the loss in goal for the Sting as he was left hung out to dry on several of the Erie goals.

The Sting lost two players five minutes into period three following a melee in front of the penalty box. Hayden Hodgson was handed a match penalty while Pavel Zacha took a five-minute fighting major and game misconduct. Both will likely face suspension.

Kevin Spinozzi also left the game at the same time after being involved in a fight.

The loss leaves the Sting with a 0-3-1-0 record in the Ontario Hockey League while Erie is now 4-0-0-0.

The Sting play their third game in as many days Sunday afternoon when they travel to Mississauga to take on the Steelheads. Game time is 2:05 p.m.

Sarnia returns home next weekend for a pair of games at the RBC Centre. They host the Saginaw Spirit on Friday night and the Windsor Spitfires Saturday night. Both games begin at 7:05 p.m.

Tickets for the games are on sale daily at the RBC Box Office, by calling 519-541-1717 or going online at www.Sarniasting.com

• The Sting used Steven Taylor (Dresden Kings Jr C ) as a backup goalie to Fazio. Overage goalie Taylor Dupuis remains sidelined with a knee injury. He is expected to start skating sometime in the next week.
• Other players not dressed included Noah Bushnell (serving the fourth game of a 10 game suspension), as well as Alex Black, Matt Ciccarelli and Connor Schlichting, (all injured).
• Sarnia and Erie meet four times this season.