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BARRIE –
Road victories have been few and far between for the
Sarnia Sting this season in the Ontario Hockey
League.
So when they get one, they are a happy bunch.
The Sting needed to hold off a furious late rally to
post a 4-3 victory over the Barrie Colts, Thursday
night before 3,157 fans at the Barrie Molson Centre.
Sarnia went into the game with just six road
victories in 25 games. Their last one was Jan. 8 at
Plymouth.
The win improved Sarnia’s overall record to
22-29-4-2 and moved them to within 11 points of
eighth place Guelph in the Western Conference. Each
team has 11 games remaining.
Nail Yakupov had another outstanding game for the
Sting with a goal and three assists. He now has
eight points in his last two games. His goal was his
42nd of the season tying him with Steven Stamkos for
the team record for goals by a rookie. That goal
also turned out to be the game winner.
Sting interim head coach Trevor Letowski liked the
way his team played for 55 minutes, but not the last
five minutes.
“I thought it was a real good effort from everyone
for 55 minutes, but we almost gave it away in the
last five minutes with some undisciplined penalties.
I know (Dean) Pawlaczyk got a little excited there
near the end, but you can’t take a major like that
with the game on the line.”
Letowski added, “our penalty-killing came up huge
again. Craig Hottot and Garrett Hooey were great up
front as were the defence. They were all very good
and that really won us the game.”
Letowski says winning a road game was important.
“We played hard. Even though Barrie is struggling
this year, they’ve beaten some good teams in this
building. I thought we had a good road game and
didn’t give them much until late in the game. We
haven’t won too many on the road this year so it’s
nice to get this one and move on to Sudbury.”
Sarnia held a 15-7 edge in shots on goal in the
opening period and had four power play chances, but
found themselves trailing 1-0. Tanner Pearson scored
the lone goal for the Colts at 15:58 when he took a
cross-ice pass and whipped a wrist shot over the
shoulder of goalie Troy Passingham.
After Passingham stopped a breakaway two minutes
into the second period, Sarnia tied the game on the
power play at 5:53.
Alex Galchenyuk notched his 22nd of the year as he
knocked in a centering pass from Nail Yakupov.
The goal was initially waved off by the referee as
he said it was kicked in, but after video review the
goal did stand.
Sarnia took a 2-1 lead at 16:47, again with the man
advantage, as Tyler Peters scored his 18th goal of
the season as he wristed home a loose puck. It was
Peters’ second goal in as many games after going 17
games without a goal.
After Passingham stopped his second breakaway of the
night five minutes into the third period, Sarnia
increased their lead to 3-1 at 5:58 when Galchenyuk
fired home a high wrist shot for his second of the
night and 23rd of the season. Yakupov picked up his
third assist.
Barrie closed the gap to 3-2 at 11:57 when a
goalmouth pass went off the shin pad of Dylan
Smoskowitz and into the net.
Yakupov regained Sarnia’s two-goal cushion at 13:48
when he cut into the slot and wristed a low shot
past the netminder. But the Colts would not go away
and Steven Beyers cut the lead to 4-3 at 15:16 when
he knocked in a goalmouth pass.
Sarnia then ran into penalty problems. Pawlaczyk
took a five-minute major for head-checking. He also
was involved in his second fight of the night and
took a game misconduct.
Two other minor penalties by the Sting and one by
the Colts late in the game resulted in the Sting
being down two players for a minute and 20 seconds
in the last two minutes, but were able to survive.
Passingham had a solid game in goal for the Sting
while Clint Windsor took the loss. Barrie finished
with a 33-32 edge in shots on goal.
The Sting resume action Friday night when they take
on the Wolves in Sudbury at 7:30 p.m. After a day
off Saturday, the Sting completes the three-game
road trip Sunday night in Sault Ste. Marie. Game
time is 7 p.m.
STING NOTES
- Yakupov was the first star with Galchenyuk second
star and Smoskowitz of the Colts third star.
- Sarnia played without forwards Brett Ritchie and
Jesse Stoughton. Both players did not even make the
trip. Stoughton has a knee injury he hurt last
Saturday in Saginaw. Ritchie, meanwhile, also hurt
his knee in Monday’s home win over Sudbury Letowski
expects Ritchie to return to the lineup next week.
- Ritchie had just returned to the Sting roster
after missing 11 games with mono. He played all
three games last weekend.
- Ex-Sting defenceman Mark Katic played his first
National Hockey League game Thursday night for the
New York Islanders against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Katic joined two other ex-Sting players in the
Islanders lineup, forwards Matt Martin and Michael
Haley. Martin had two goals in the game.
- Sarnia’s road record is now 7-17-3-0 while Barrie
is 10-17-1-1 at home.
- The Sting won both games against the Colts this
season.
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