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Sting Win in Overtime
FEBRUARY 28, 2015
By DAVE BORODY
It’s been awhile coming, but
there was finally some joy
in Stingville Friday night.
The Sarnia Sting rallied
from a 2-1 deficit to defeat
the Plymouth Whalers 3-2 in
overtime in front of 2,368
fans at the RBC Centre.
Nikita Korostelev provided
the heroics for the Sting
when he blasted home a
slapshot with 17.6 seconds
left in the five-minute
extra session.
Jakob Chychrun and Hayden
Hodgson drew assists on
Korostelev’s 21st goal of
the season, tops on the
team.
But more importantly, the
victory snapped a five-game
losing streak and provided
the team with two valuable
points in the Western
Conference playoff race.
(Both Windsor and Saginaw
lost their games meaning
Sarnia holds an eight point
lead over both of those
teams for seventh place).
“Finally things bounced our
way,” said Sting head coach
Trevor Letowski. “We’ve been
close in some games lately,
but haven’t got any results.
Tonight we battled right to
the end. We faced a good
goalie tonight that made a
lot of good stops.
“Our five-on-five play was
good. They scored both their
goals on the power play and
that was deflating. But we
stayed with it and got the
tying goal from (Pavel)
Zacha and the winning goal
by Korostelev.”
Letowski had high praise for
Zacha, who has come back
from injury with a real jump
in his step. He was one of
the best players on the ice.
“He’s getting his legs now.
I think he has six points in
his last three games and
that’s exciting. Pavel has
had some setbacks this year
due to injuries and
suspensions. Hopefully he is
in for a big finish.”
The game was scoreless
heading into the third
period, thanks to the
stellar play of both
goaltenders, Taylor Dupuis
of the Sting and Alex
Nedeljkovic of the Whalers.
Each goaltender took their
turn at making a couple of
fabulous saves. Nedeljkovic
robbed Noah Bushnell late in
period one with a great pad
save on a two-on-none break.
Dupuis stopped a breakaway
in the second period and
then stopped another
breakaway late in the third
period to keep his team in
the game.
The game’s first goal did
not come until the 2:25 mark
of period three. Defenceman
Jeff King took a centering
pass from Jordan Kyrou and
ripped a high shot over the
glove of the Whalers goalie.
Korostelev also assisted on
King’s first goal of the
season, a power play tally.
But the Sting ran into
penalty problems and
Plymouth capitalized.
They tied the game at 4:13
on a goal by Victor Crus
Rydberg with a two-man
advantage while Mathew
Campagna put Plymouth ahead
2-1 26 seconds later on the
power play.
But the Sting kept battling
and was rewarded with the
tying goal at 17:48. Zacha
took a pass from Kyrou and
snapped home a quick wrist
shot from the slot. Kevin
Spinozzi also assisted on
Zacha’s 14th goal of the
season.
That set the stage for
overtime. Sarnia had a 7-1
edge in shots on goal in the
extra session. They were
given a power play with just
over a minute remaining. The
Sting worked the puck around
until Korostelev ended the
game.
Sarnia finished with a 46-23
edge in shots on goal.
The game marked the return
of overage defenceman Josh
Chapman, who missed 12 games
due to suspension. Chapman
made his presence felt early
when he was involved in a
first period fight and got
the better of his opponent.
“We missed him,” said
Letowski, when asked about
Chapman. “We have a young
team and it’s nice to have
that veteran presence back
in the lineup. I thought he
played a good, solid game.”
The Sting concludes the
weekend Sunday afternoon
when they travel to Windsor
to battle the Spitfires.
Game time is 2 p.m.
Sarnia will be home twice
next weekend as they host
the Sault Ste. Marie
Greyhounds Friday night at
7:05 p.m. and the Guelph
Storm Sunday at 4:05 p.m.
Tickets for all remaining
Sting home games are on sale
daily at the RBC Box Office,
by calling 519-541-1717 or
going online at
www.sarniasting.com
STING NOTES
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Korostelev was first
star with Nedeljkovic
second star and Zacha
third star.
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Sarnia improved their
home record to
16-10-2-2.
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The Sting finished with
a 4-2 record against the
Whalers this season.
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Sarnia was two-for-four
on the power play and
Plymouth two-for-five.
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The Sting has only eight
games remaining before
playoffs, four at home
and four on the road.
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