Sting Downed Rangers in Overtime
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 4, 2016
COMMUNITY NEWS
Written by Carl Chimenti
Photos by Metcalfe Photography
Pavel Zacha, scored 20 seconds
into overtime and the Sarnia
Sting defeated the Kitchener
Rangers 3-2 before 2,697 at the
Sarnia Sports and Entertainment
Centre, Wednesday night. It was
the only time in the hard fought
game that Sarnia was able to
take the lead. The game was
close and tight from start to
finish.
The win was the fourth in a row
for Sarnia, who are now just
three points behind the first
place Windsor Spitfires in the
West Division, with a game in
hand.
Zacha, finished with a goal and
an assist and Travis Konecny had
a pair of assists, including
setting up Zacha’s game winner.
Ryan McGregor scored the first
Sting goal and Jordan Kyrou’s
goal tied the game 2-2, late in
the second period. Charlie
Graham made his second straight
start for the Sting in net,
following his 5-0 blanking last
Sunday against the Windsor
Spitfires. Graham had another
great outing as he stopped 31 of
33 shots in the win.
Ryan MacInnis and Miles Liberati
scored for Kitchener. Luke
Opilka, had 22 saves as
Kitchener out shot Sarnia 33-25.
It didn’t take long for
Kitchener to score as Ryan
MacInnis found the back of the
net just 48 seconds into the
game. Sarnia got it back near
the mid-way point of the opening
period on a goal from McGregor,
with Sam Studnicka and Travis
Konecny getting the assists. The
second half of the period was
scoreless and the two teams went
into the first intermission
deadlocked at 1-1. Sarnia out
shot Kitchener 9-6.
Kitchener went back on top at
4:21 of the second period as
Liberati scored a power play
goal. The assists went to Gustaf
Franzen and Jeremy Bracco. The
two teams went into a defensive
shell following the Rangers go
ahead goal, but Sarnia finally
managed to get the equalizer
late, at 17:21, as Kyrou scored
from Pavel Zacha and Jeff King.
Kyrou’s goal, matched his career
best at 13, from his rookie
season last year. For the second
straight period the game was
tied. Kitchener out shot Sarnia
12-5.
The third period was scoreless,
setting up Zacha’s heroics in
overtime.
Sting Notebook:
-
The month of January was the
best month of the season for
the Sting as they went
8-4-1.
-
Sarnia dominated the three
star selection with Zacha
the number one star, Graham,
number two and Konecny the
third star.
-
Kitchener was 1/6 on the
power play and Sarnia 0/6.
-
Sarnia will host the Erie
Otters on Friday night (7:05
puck drop) and will finish
off the week in London for
an afternoon game on Sunday
(2:00 puck drop).
