Five In A Row

By DAVE BORODY
The Sarnia Sting is on a roll these days.
The Sting made it five wins in a row with a solid 5-1 win over the Kingston Frontenacs, Saturday night before 2,902 fans at the RBC Centre.
Sarnia did not look like a team playing their third game in as nights as they dominated play to improve to 6-4-0-1 in the Ontario Hockey League. The five-game winning streak is the longest for the team in three years.
We were definitely tired and I didn’t expect a 5-1 game,” said Sting forward Kale Kerbashian, who had a goal and an assist and was named the game’s first star.
Our young guys played great tonight. I don’t know if teams are taking us lightly or what. The young guys are stepping up and our special teams have been great.”
Sarnia scored two more power play goals against the Frontenacs, who came into the game with the best penalty-killing percentage in the league. The Sting meanwhile are 19th on the penalty-kill, but killed off eight of nine Kingston power plays.
The Frontenacs only goal came on a two-man advantage with five minutes left in the third period to spoil Adam Courchaine’s shut out bid.
Brandon Alderson, Ben O’Quinn, Steve Reese and Tyler Peters scored the other Sting goals while Craig Hottot and Jordan Hill chipped in with two assists each.
Hottot, a third round draft pick, played his best game of the season to date.
Yeah, I’d say that was my best game. I talked to coach MacQueen earlier this week. I was getting frustrated and putting too much pressure on myself. He told me to relax and just go out and play. I got my first point against Kitchener and it made me feel a lot better.”
Hottot felt the Sting played another solid game against Kingston.
Kingston came out a little flat while we came out strong early. Our forecheck was good all night, we had lots of scoring chances and we blocked a lot of shots in our end. It’s a nice feeling to be on this stretch. We are a hard-working team and getting the bounces.”
Head coach Dave MacQueen said Hottot is just one of several Sting rookies who needed to get his confidence level up.
He was beating himself up. We’ve put him at center for a couple of games to get more involved. At center you get more touches of the puck. Craig’s played a lot better lately.”
Sarnia got off to a quick start when a minute and a half into the opening period when Kerbashian unleashed a hard wrist shot from the top of the face-off circle.
Despite a number of excellent scoring chances, Sarnia did not get their second goal until the 17:16 mark of the second period. Alderson fired a low shot between the legs of the Frontenacs netminder on a two-on-one break for his fourth of the year.
The Sting put the game out of reach with two goals 15 seconds apart early in period three.
O’Quinn scored his fifth of the year on a two-man power play while Reese scored his fourth, (and third in two games); when he whipped home a cross-ice pass from Kerbashian.
Peters scored Sarnia’s fifth goal at 12:41 before Mike Farrell scored Kingston’s lone goal at 15:05.
Sarnia held 34-29 edge in shots on goal although Kingston had just 11 shots over two periods. They had just three shots in the second period. The Sting chased starting goalie Tyler Beskorowany after their fourth goalie. John Cullen finished.
I thought our energy level was outstanding, considering it was our third game in three nights,” said MacQueen. The new guys hadn’t gone through it before and they responded well. We controlled the play and controlled the tempo of the game. We were tenacious on the puck and holding them to 11 shots over two periods was nice.”
MacQueen admitted leading only 1-0 late into the second period, with all the scoring opportunities, had the coaching staff concerned.
The coaches were more concerned than the players. You are always concerned when you let a team hang around. One bad bounce or a penalty can tie the game. But these goals just don’t quit. Our second goal was a big one.”
He added, our penalty kill was outstanding. It’s coming. It’s been very good the last few games. When you can hold a team to just one five-on-three goal, that’s pretty good.”
Sarnia was two-for-five with the man advantage and Kingston one-for-nine.
When asked about the five-game winning streak, MacQueen said, it’s 10 points. It’s points in the bank. There’s no question it’s keeping the guys upbeat. Our conference is tight and you need to win five in a row just to keep pace. We just keep hammering home the details.”
The Sting now prepare for their first extended road trip of the season as they play Thursday in Barrie, Friday in Sudbury and Sunday in Oshawa.
It’s never easy on the road. We’ll take a day off and it’s back to work Monday. We aren’t getting ahead of ourselves. The young guys are gaining more confidence with every game.”
STING NOTES
– Kerbashian was first star with Reese second star and Courchaine third star.
– Alderson leads the team with three game winning goals.
– Kerbashian has seven points in the last three games.
– Defenceman Daniel Broussard, who has not played a regular season game due to hand surgery, could be back in the lineup for the road trip.
– Sarnia’s home record is now 4-2-1-0. They are a perfect 5-0 when leading after two periods.
– Sarnia’s next home game is Oct. 30th when they host the Saginaw Spirit.