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PLYMOUTH,
Mich. – The Sarnia Sting came up with a gutsy 4-2
victory over the Plymouth Whalers, Saturday night
before
2,790 fans at the Compuware Sports Arena.
The victory was the second in as many nights for the
Sting who improved to 17-18-3-1 in the Ontario
Hockey League.
The win also moved Sarnia to within a point of
eighth place London in the Western Conference as the
Knights fell to Saginaw. Sarnia is only four points
behind Erie who lost to Kingston.
Sarnia broke a 2-2 tie with a pair of goals in the
third period to skate off with the victory.
“It was a heck of a hockey game,” said Sting head
coach Dave MacQueen. “This is a big road victory for
us. For two teams that were both playing their third
game in as many nights, there was a heck of a pace
out there.
“Both goalies played well and the difference was we
scored some timely goals. And when the game was on
the line in the
third period, Troy Passingham shut the door with
some big stops.
Passingham notched his second win in 24 hours in
goal since joining the Sting in a trade on Friday
from Windsor. Passingham kicked aside 32 of 34 shots
he faced.
Brett Ritchie continued his torrid scoring streak
when he opening the scoring for Sarnia with the only
goal of the opening period at 2:01. He sent a low
wrist shot between the legs of goalie Scott
Wedgewood.
Ritchie now has 10 goals in his last nine games.
Plymouth tied the game just over four minutes into
period two with the teams four aside when Stefan
Noesen deflected a
point shot past Sting goalie Troy Passingham.
The Whalers took the lead at 15:17 when Mitchell
Heard banged home a rebound from close range.
But Sarnia squared matters a minute later when
Garrett Hooey took a centering pass from Nick Latta,
made a nifty move
and slipped the puck under the Whalers goalie. It
was Hooey’s third goal of the year.
“That goal by Hooey was a big goal,” said MacQueen.
“We responded right after they had taken the lead.
We didn’t want to be down by a goal going into the
third period. It was a big momentum boost.”
The Sting took a 3-2 lead three minutes into period
three on the power play goal by Nail Yakupov. He was
credited with
the goal, his 27th of the year although it appeared
Ritchie’s centering pass went off a Whalers
defenceman and into the net.
Alex
Galchenyuk extended the Sting lead to 4-2 at 10:37
on a great individual effort. He used a teammate as
a decoy on a
two-on-one break and skated in and whipped a
backhand into the top corner of the net. It was his
14th goal of the season.
After that it was Passingham who made some timely
saves to preserve the victory.
Sarnia finished one-for-two on the power play while
Plymouth was zero-for-three.
“It was a great effort and we battled hard for 60
minutes,” said Sting captain Nathan Chiarlitti.
“Ever since I’ve been with the Sting we haven’t had
a lot of success in this building. But we played
well again defensively and Passingham made some big
stops.”
Sarnia will play three games in three nights next
week, including a pair at home. They host the London
Knights Thursday
and the Whalers Friday night. Both games begin at
7:05 p.m. at the RBC Centre. Sarnia and Plymouth
then play for the third time in a week on Saturday
in Plymouth.
STING NOTES
- Sarnia was again without forwards Craig Hottot and
Brandon Francisco, both out with upper body
injuries. The Sting
currently has 22 players on the roster.
- The OHL trade deadline is Monday at noon.
- Ritchie was first star for the second straight
game while Galchenyuk was second star and Yakupov
third star.
- Galchenyuk has now scored goals in three
consecutive games.
- Sarnia’s road record improved to 6-9-3-0.
- Sarnia has now beaten Plymouth twice by 4-2 scores
this season. They play four more times. |
