The best
team in the Ontario Hockey League showed little or
no mercy on one of the struggling teams Friday night
at the RBC Centre.
The Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors shot out to a
4-0 lead after the first period and coasted to a 6-3
victory over the Sarnia Sting in front of 2,973 fans
at the RBC Centre.
It marked the second time in less than a week the
Majors have defeated Sarnia. They won 7-1 on home
ice last Sunday.
“They play the game the right way,” said Sting head
coach Dave MacQueen, when asked about the Majors.
“They just keep going and keep coming at you. They
are four lines deep. We can learn from them. We
showed video of them earlier in the week.”
He added, “we would have had to play a perfect game
and they would have had to have an off night in
order to beat them. They are that good. And it’s
nothing fancy. They work hard, compete like crazy,
don’t take any shifts off and take pucks hard to the
net.”
MacQueen did see some positives from his team who
has dropped five in a row and eight of their last
nine games.
“We scored a couple of goals in the third period and
showed we didn’t quit. I liked the way Nathan (Chiarlitti)
stepped in when one of our guys got hit. And Brandon
Hope battled in goal. He competes like crazy. There
was a lot of traffic in front of him all night long
and he battled trying to see the shots.”
Sarnia was outshot 45-23 marking the fifth straight
game the Sting has allowed 40 or more shots.
It took only five seconds on the first St. Michael’s
power play when they scored their first goal just
over four minutes into the game. They built up a 5-0
lead before the Sting scored their first goal in the
final minute of period two. The lead was 6-1 before
the Sting scored two late goals in the third period.
Three of the Majors six goals came on the power
play.
J.C. Campagna led the Sting with two goals and one
assist. The second year forward, who has struggled
this season, now has seven goals on the season.
Nail Yakupov also figured in on all three goals as
he notched his 38th of the year to go along with two
assists. Yakupov, who has six points in his last two
games, is now just four goals shy of the team rookie
record of 42 held by Steven Stamkos.
Alex Galachenyuk had a pair of assists to give him
four points in his last two games.
Rob Flick was tops for the Majors with two goals
while Justin Shugg, Michael D’Orazio, Brett Flemming
and Marc Cantin had one goal each.
The Majors finished three-for-six on the power play
while Sarnia was zero-for-six.
St. Michael’s leads the Eastern Conference with a
39-8-0-2 record.
The Sting’s record is now 18-24-4-2. They complete
the week on Saturday night when they travel to
Plymouth to battle the Whalers.
“We are going to be even more shorthanded with Craig
Hottot getting a game misconduct,” said MacQueen.
“We have to go in there, keep it simple and compete
like crazy. We also need to get off to a good
start.”
Sarnia’s next home game is Thursday when they host
the London Knights at 7:05 p.m.
STING NOTES
- Flick was first star while Maxim Kitsyn (two
assists), who the Majors recently acquired from
Russia, was second star and Campagna third star.
- Kale Kerbashian of the Sting had his consecutive
games points streak end at 12.
- Sarnia is now below the .500 mark at home with a
12-13-1-2 record.
- St. Michael’s has an incredible 28-0-0-0 record
when leading after two periods. Sarnia is 2-20-1-2
when trailing after 40 minutes |