There was an explosion Friday night at the RBC Centre.

It came in the form of a seven-goal outburst by the Sarnia Sting as they skated to a much-needed 7-5 win over the Owen Sound Attack before 3,029 pleased spectators.

The win snapped a five-game losing streak for the Sting as they improved to 4-6-1-0 in the Ontario Hockey League.

The victory was even more impressive in the fact that the loss snapped a nine-game unbeaten streak for the Attack, currently ranked fourth in the Canadian Hockey League. Their record is now 9-2-0-0.
 

The seven goals were the most Sarnia has scored in a game this year and six different players found the back of the net.
“No, but we’ll take it,” exclaimed Sting head coach Dave MacQueen, when asked if he thought he would envision a 12-goal game between the two clubs.

“A win is a win and it was nice to end the losing streak.”

Things didn’t start out well for Sarnia as they were outshot 17-2 in the opening period, but fortunately only trailed 1-0. They came alive with four goals in period two and held a 4-3 lead after 40 minutes.
 

“The first period was certainly not the way we wanted to start, I’m not so sure about the shots overall in the game, but it’s scoring chances we count and we did out chance them overall. I thought we were ready to play. The guys were up and we had a good week of practice.
“But at times we seemed to put too much pressure on ourselves. The execution was not there early and there were too many turnovers. We addressed that after the first period. In the second period we established a forecheck and got pucks to the net. We then generated some scoring chances.”

The Sting jumped out to a 6-3 lead early in the third period.

“We had a 6-3 lead and they came back to make it 6-5. At that point we didn’t buckle and held our ground. We got a big seventh goal and played with confidence after that. There are still concerns like our one-on-one battles and paying the price, but it’s a good way to start the weekend.”
 

Tyler Peters had two goals for Sarnia with single markers going to Brandon Francisco, Nick Latta, Brandon Alderson, Brett Ritchie and Alex Galchenyuk. Nail Yakupov chipped in with three assists while Kale Kerbashian and Garrett Hooey had two each.

Joey Hishon was tops for Owen Sound with two goals while Garrett Wilson, Michael Halmo and Liam Heelis counted one each.
Sarnia’s power play, which had struggled recently, scored three goals with the man advantage.

“We realized our power play needed to generate more and tonight we scored three power play goals and that was the difference in the game,” said MacQueen. “Special teams are so huge. The power play got us goals when we needed them.”

Owen Sound had a pair of power play goals and one shorthanded marker.

Both of Peters’ goals came on the power play, both on rockets from the point.

“The three power play goals were something we needed,” said Peters. “It not only scored us goals, but it got us the lead, something we haven’t had in recent games. We had a poor first period, but got stronger as the game went on.”

Owen Sound finished with a 35-24 edge in shots on goal. John Cullen got the win in goal for Sarnia. Scott Stajcer started in goal for the Attack, but was chased after the fifth Sarnia goal early in the third period. Jordan Binnington finished.
 

There were five goals scored in the final period, all before the 10-minute mark. After Sarnia got the 6-3 lead three minutes into the frame, Owen Sound bounced back to close the gap to one by the eight-minute mark.

But Peters scored Sarnia’s seventh goal on the power play at 9:27. That was all the scoring.

The two teams have a return engagement tonight in Owen Sound. Sarnia is in Saginaw next Wednesday before returning home for a pair of games next weekened as they host Brampton Saturday at 7:05 p.m. and Sault Ste. Marie Sunday at 2 p.m.


- Yakupov was first star with Peters second star and Wilson of the Attack third star.
- Sarnia is now 2-0 on the season when wearing their third jerseys.
- Scratches for the Sting were Kyle Flemington, J.C. Campagna and Ryan Zupancic, all healthy.
- The Sting is now 3-3-0-0 on home ice.
- Sarnia is 4-0-0 when leading after two periods.
- Yakupov continues to lead the Sting in scoring with eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points while Kerbashian, Peters
and Galchenyuk are next, all with 16 points apiece.
“He’s still got lots of things to work on defensively, but he plays the game hard,” said MacQueen, when asked about Yakupov. “He’s got a great attitude and is full of energy. He’s going to be a dynamic player for us if he’s not already.”
- Sarnia was three-for-eight on the power play and Owen Sound two-for-seven.