Erie Stings Sarnia 4-3 For Third Straight Victory
Sarnia, Ontario – The Erie Otters earned their third straight win by defeating the Sarnia Sting 4-3 at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena Friday night.
Sarnia’s Sean Josling opened the night’s scoring just over four minutes into the contest on the power play, but Erie responded quickly. The clubs were skating four-on-four when Jacob Golden jumped into a rush to join Maxim Golod for a two-on-one opportunity. Golod fed Golden who snapped home his second of the campaign from the right wing circle to even things at one. Thirty-three seconds after Golden’s goal, Sarnia seemed to tie the game, but coach Chris Hartsburg successfully challenged the play for goaltender interference and the goal was overturned. Past the halfway point in the period, the Sting’s Jamieson Reese was assessed a major penalty for checking Drew Hunter in the head, during which Golod and Jamie Drysdale fed the puck to Chad Yetman who fired a shot short side over the glove of the Sarnia netminder to give the Otters a 2-1 lead. Daniel D’Amato added to the Erie lead with a short-handed goal in the final minute of the frame, and Golod recorded his third assist of the game on the play to tie a career high.
Sarnia pulled to within one goal of Erie’s lead six minutes and nine seconds into the middle stanza when a pass through the crease led to a point-blank shot from Ryan McGregor into the back of the net. Minutes later, Sarnia tied the game at three when the Sting’s Theo Hill potted another cross-slot pass. Daniel Murphy made a stellar toe save in the final minutes of the frame to stop Sarnia from taking the lead, and the teams went into the intermission knotted at three goals each.
Erie enjoyed momentum out of the gate in the third period, and a Yetman shot rang the post within the first minute. The Otters continued to work hard, and Golden was stopped on a breakaway with over eight minutes gone in the final frame. Still trying for the go-ahead goal, D’Amato would force a turnover and find Brendan Hoffmann on the back door to break the tie with his ninth of the season with only six minutes and 37 seconds left in the contest. Murphy made big saves in the final minutes and stopped a high-quality Sarnia chance with less than nine seconds on the clock to secure the Otters’ 4-3 victory.
Erie will look to build on its three-game winning streak when the Otters close out their season series with the Windsor Spitfires on Saturday, January 18, for a 7:05 p.m. game at the WFCU Centre.
Single game tickets for the 2019-20 season are on sale now. Erie Otters season tickets and flex packages are also available and can be purchased in person at the Erie Otters front office located at 201 E. 8th Street in Erie, or by calling 814-455-7779. For the latest Otters news, visit www.ottershockey.com, or follow the team on Facebook (www.facebook.com/erieottershockey), Twitter (@ErieOtters) and Instagram (@ErieOtters).