The
Sarnia Sting started the second half of their season
on a winning note Wednesday night.
The Sting scored two unanswered goals in the third
period to defeat the Plymouth Whalers 4-2 in front
of 2,711
spectators at the RBC Centre.
The win puts the Sting back to the .500 in the
Ontario Hockey League at 15-15-3-1 at exactly the
midway point of the
season.
Three of Sarnia's rookies played a key role in the
victory. Alex Galchenyuk had a goal and two assists
and was named the game's first star. Nail Yakupov
scored the winning goal with a bullet-like slapshot
that Whalers goalie Scott Wedgewood is still looking
for while goalie Brandon Hope got a last-second
start and played a solid game.
Sting head coach Dave MacQueen was pleased with his
team's effort.
"Overall it was a pretty solid performance. Early in
the game we were very good with a lot of energy. But
they scored a couple of goals and it took the win
out of our sails. But the rest of the way we were
outstanding down low in their zone, protecting the
puck and also cycling the puck.
"We made a couple of poor decisions in our end that
resulted in goals, but overall we kept the turnovers
down,
we got
some good saves from our goalie and we blocked a
number of shots."
Although averaging a point a game this year,
Galchenyuk had not scored in 12 games. That came to
a quick end as he opened the scoring three minutes
into the first period when he deposited a rebound
into the top corner of the net for his 10th of the
year.
"I was happy to see that one go in," said Galchenyuk.
"It's been a little frustrating, but I tried not to
dwell on it. I knew if I kept working hard I would
get rewarded and I did tonight."
On finishing with a three-point game, Galchenyuk
said, "that's nice too, but it was more important to
get the two points tonight and we did that. Plymouth
is a good skating team and it was a face-paced
game."
The Whalers bounced back with a pair of goals as
James Livingston scored a power play at 8:03 and Max
Iafrate scored at
14:01.Sarnia scored the only goal of period two at
7:41 when Brett Ritchie notched his 11th goal of the
season banging home his own rebound.
Ritchie
was named the game's second star and according to
MacQueen, played one of his best games of the
season.
"We know Brett is not a finesse player and he has to
take the puck to the net and be tough down low. He
was in a bit of a funk early in the season, but the
last month or so has played solid.Tonight he was
outstanding especially down low and working the
puck. When he plays like that he's every effective."
What turned out to be the winning goal came at 4:58
of the third period when Yakupov scored his
team-high 23rd of the season. He took a long
cross-ice pass from Daniel Broussard just instead
the Whalers blue line and drilled a slapshot into
the top scorer on the glove side.
MacQueen was asked to describe the goal.
"It's kind of funny because the line was gassed and
I was yelling for them to dump the puck in deep and
get off. But Alex made a nice to Broussard in the
neutral zone. We've told our defence to support the
attack when they can. He skated over the blue line
and fed a nice pass to Nail who got off the
one-timer. He has a great one-timer and was set up
to quick it off quickly."
Sarnia went ahead 4-2 at 9:49 when Brandon Francisco
snapped a 15-game goal-less drought when he tipped
home
a
pass from Tyler Peters. It was his ninth goal of the
year.
"We preach driving to the net and that's what
Brandon did on that goal," said MacQueen. "Peters
made a great pass and Brandon was able to re-direct
the pass into the net. The goal should make him feel
good and be better for the next game."
Hope, who was forced to play after John Cullen
became ill just prior to the opening face-off,
turned aside 30 shots and was the game's third star.
Wedgewood made 26 saves for Plymouth.
MacQueen says the win is nice, but it's just the
start.
"This Western Conference is going to go right down
to the wire because there's so much parity. There's
too many good teams for eight teams to run away and
hide from two others. But we can't win two or three
and then lose two or three. We need to string a few
wins together and go 7-3 or 8-2 over a 10-game
stretch." He added, "A lot of what goes on may be
determined by what happens at the trade deadline,
(Jan. 10).
The Sting returns to action Friday when they host
the London Knights in the annual New Year's Eve game
beginning at 4:05 p.m. It will be the first visit of
the season by the Knights to Sarnia this season.
STING NOTES
- Last night's game was the first of six meetings
over the next five weeks between Sarnia and
Plymouth.
- The Sting played without four regulars as
defencemen Joe Rogalski and Brent Sullivan are
injured while Nick Latta and Garrett Hooey are away
at international tournaments. Latta played for
Germany at the world junior tournament in
Buffalo.They lost 5-1 to Finland.
- Sarnia was zero-for-three on the power play and
Plymouth one-for-five.
- Sarnia improved to 10-7-0-1 on home ice.
- Galachenyuk, the first overall pick in last year's
draft, says he's learned a lot the first half of the
season."The speed is faster and the goals don't come
as easy as major midget. You have to shoot more
accurately. I think I'm learning to play more
two-way hockey and play at both ends of the rink."
- Former Sting forward Brandon Mashinter played his
first National Hockey League game last night for the
San Jose
Sharks. He signed with the Sharks as a free agent.
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