Otters hold on to beat Sting
It was a little closer than they would have liked, but the Otters will take the win nonetheless. Erie scored just enough to keep the Sarnia Sting from making a comeback and won the game 5-4 at the RBC Centre in Sarnia to improve to 2-0-0-0 on the season.
The first goal of the game came from a player who was absent in the Otters’ season opener. Fresh off his USA Hockey All American Prospects game appearence, Alex Debrincat scored the game’s first goal on assists from Kyle Maksimovich and Darren Raddysh. Erie looked to have things going its way just a few minutes later when Shaun Bily drew a slashing penalty on Sarnia’s Alex Black. Daniel Nikandrov would change that on the penalty kill when he scored shorthanded for the Sting to tie the game at one. Erie would respond right back 57 seconds later when Nick Betz scored his first of the season, giving Erie the lead right back 2-1.
While Erie was able to kill two penalties in the first period, Sarnia would finally take advantage of a power play opportunity in the second when Jakob Chychrun scored to tie the game 2-2 midway through the second period. The score remained tied until late in the second period, when the Otters would strike twice in 40 seconds. Maksimovich put a rebound past Justin Fazio for his second of the season, shortly followed by Kyle Pettit scoring his second of the year, putting Erie up 4-2 at the end of two periods.
Erie was 0-3 on the power play for the game entering the third period and still haven’t scored a goal with the man advantage through the young season. That would change when Jake Marchment snuck one past Fazio seven seconds into a crosschecking minor by Kevin Spinozzi. That extended Erie’s lead to 5-2.
Sarnia would get one back when Hayden Hodgson scored from in front of the net with 11:20 to play, making it 5-3. The Sting would continue to put the pressure on the Otters late in third, outshooting the Otters 19-9 in the third and 39-27 for the game. Devin Williams made some big saves in the third to keep Erie’s lead at two, until Alexandre Renaud crashed the net and cut the score to 5-4 with 90 seconds to play. Sarnia would pull the goalie Fazio to try and tie it, but Erie was able to hold on to come out with the one goal victory. Williams finished with 35 saves on 39 shots.
Erie will take its 2-0 record to Niagara and take on the IceDogs Thursday, October 1. Game time is scheduled for 7:00.
The Iron Workers Local Union No. 3 Ironmen of the Game:
1) Devin Williams – 35 saves
2) Jeff King – 1 A, +2 rating
3) Nick Betz – 1 G, 1 A
