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 Down
4-2 after two periods to the top team in the Western
Conference, the Sarnia Sting still felt they had a
chance against the Saginaw Spirit Thursday night. In
the end the Sting had no chance.
The Spirit outshot Sarnia 22-7 in the third period
and skated off with an impressive 6-2 victory in
front of 2,442 fans at the RBC Centre.
The dominance of Saginaw in the third period was
evidenced by the fact they had outshot the Sting
19-0 before Sarnia got their first shot on goal in
the period. It came with just 7:25 remaining.
"Good teams know how to put the hammer down," said
Sting head coach Dave MacQueen. "They kept it simple
and shut us down. Our guys started to get frustrated
and when that happens, they try and do the wrong
things. It resulted in turnovers and goals in our
net."
He added, "Saginaw seemed to have a lot of jump in
the third period. They got pucks in deep and made us
go backwards.
They clogged up the neutral zone. They also have big
forwards who work the puck down low and it's hard to
separate the puck. When we did get the puck we
didn't chip pucks out. They just kept coming in
waves."
When leading after two periods this season, Saginaw
is now 27-1-2-0.
Sarnia fell behind 2-0 after one period despite the
fact they outshot Saginaw 16-6 and had five power
plays, including twice with a two-man advantage.
The Sting did score a power play goal early in the
second period to cut the lead to one. For the next
14 minutes the play was wide open with great scoring
chances at both ends.
However the Spirit scored a pair of goals 16 seconds
apart with five minutes to go in the period and
never looked back after that.
"We talked after the second period about the fact we
probably deserved a better fate than being down 4-2.
We did a lot of good things. But with the way things
have been going of late, their first goal went off
our guy's shin pad and the second off our stick. We
played with them, but missed our chances.
"Daniel Broussard missed a breakaway. He let up as
he thought he heard a whistle. (Nail) Yakupov missed
an open net. I still don't know how that puck never
went in the net," MacQueen said.
Ivan Telegin, a draft pick of the Atlanta Thrashers,
let the Spirit with three goals. John McFarland
added a pair while
Vincent Trocheck had a goal and two assists. Mathew
Sisca chipped in with three assists.
Yakupov scored both goals for the Sting. He now has
35 on the season.
Rookie Troy Paterson got the win in goal for Saginaw
making 32 saves while Sting netminder Troy
Passingham was under siege several times in the
second and third periods. He was peppered with 44
shots.
The loss leaves the Sting with an 18-20-4-2 record.
They remain five points back of Guelph for the
eighth and final playoff spot in the Western
Conference of the Ontario Hockey League. Each team
has 23 games remaining.
Sarnia plays at Guelph Friday night. The game will
be shown on CTV Sportsnet beginning at 7:05 p.m.
"Everybody figured Guelph would be higher in the
standings than they are right now," said MacQueen.
"They are a veteran team and added some players at
the deadline. They are going to come at us hard with
arguably three of the best forwards in the league.
It's going to be tought, be we need to find a way to
get points."
STING NOTES
- Telegin was first star with McFarland second
star and Yakupov third star. Yakupov has 68 points
and is fifth in OHL scoring.
- Kale Kerbashian picked up one assist and now has
at least one assist in 10 straight games.
- Sarnia's home record is now 12-11-1-2. They have
just eight home games remaining. Their next home
game is next Thursday against Plymouth. They also
will be home next Friday to Mississauga.
- When trailing after the first period, Sarnia is
just 5-11-2-1.
- Sarnia is 1-3 vs Saginaw with two more games left
in the season series. Both will be in Saginaw.
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