The Sarnia Sting
trail the Erie
Otters 2-games-to-1
after Game 3 of
their best-of-seven,
opening round OHL
playoff series,
Sunday night at RBC
Centre.
But, for the third
straight game, the
Sting turned in a
stellar effort
against the
heavily-favoured
Otters in a
fantastic game that
truly could have
gone either way.
A look-what-I-found
goal, halfway
through the third
period by megastar
Connor McDavid,
turned out to be the
game-winner in
Erie’s 6-5 victory,
spoiling a stellar
effort by the home
team, in front of a
sell out crowd.
The Sting got off to
a great start,
playing a superb
first period. They
led 2-1 after 20
minutes but it could
easily have been a
larger lead.
Stephen Pierog
opened the scoring
3:30 into the first
and Pavel Zacha made
it 2-0, nine minutes
in.
Pierog then came
close to making it
3-0 a short time
later, when he found
himself alone in
front of Erie goalie
Devin Williams for
the second time in
the period, but hit
the post.
It turned out to be
the first of many
turning points in
the game as Dylan
Strome scored a
short time later to
make the score 2-1.
The Sting came close
to getting their
third goal of the
period again, near
the end of the
frame, when Daniel
Nikandrov hit the
underside of the
crossbar, missing a
goal by fractions of
an inch.
Otters goalie
Williams – who
looked shaky the
entire game, and
could be his team’s
Achilles heel – was
clearly beaten by
the shot, but it
stayed out and the
score was 2-1 at the
end of the frame.
Early in the second
the Otters showed
how explosive they
could be, scoring
four times in a span
of 3:23, to take a
5-2 lead and, it
appeared, seize
control of the game.
The Otters
capitalized on a
couple of Sting
penalties during
their barrage –
officiating clearly
irking the crowd,
which felt the Sting
were being more
harshly treated by
the referees.
However, the fifth
Otters goal was a
shorthanded effort.
The Sting comeback
started a couple of
minutes later when
Alex Renaud scored
at 7:15 to make the
score 5-3.
There was no scoring
for the final 12:45
of the middle
period.
But in the third,
the Sting stepped up
and scored a pair of
early goals – a
power play goal by
Hayden Hodgson at
2:25 and an even
strength marker by
Troy Lajeunesse, 52
seconds later, to
even the score at
5-5, sending the
home crowd into a
frenzy, once again.
Action went back and
forth until midway
through the frame
when a scrummed
faceoff resulted in
the puck popping out
to McDavid who was
in the right place
at the right time,
and found himself
all alone,
one-on-one vs. Sting
goalie Taylor
Dupuis.
McDavid had lots of
time to dangle the
puck right across
the goal crease
until Dupuis
committed, went
down, and gave
McDavid most of the
net to shoot at.
The Sting pressured
the Otters
relentlessly down
the stretch and
narrowly missed
tying the score at
6-6 on numerous
occasions.
But they could not
convert and the
Otters skated away
with the win and a
2-1 lead in the
series.
Post Game Interview
with Head Coach
Trevor Letowski
Game 4 is Tuesday
night at RBC Centre.
