Knights Come From Behind To Down Sting

By DAVE BORODY
“A good effort, but a disappointing result.”
Those were the words of Sarnia Sting associate coach, Trevor Letowski, after the team dropped a 3-2 decision to the London Knights, Monday afternoon before a season-high crowd of 4,714 fans at the RBC Centre.
The Sting enjoyed a 2-0 lead early in the third period before the Knights stormed back with three goals in a span of four minutes and 31 seconds to take the lead. Two of the three Knights goals came on the power play.
The loss dropped Sarnia’s record to 20-13-0-3 in the Ontario Hockey League.
“The guys played hard,” continued Letowski. “There was a great atmosphere around the rink and we played with a lot of energy. There was a real buzz in the building. We knew London would make a push late in the second period and they did. J.P. Anderson made some huge saves for us.
“We also knew it was not going to be easy in the third period. London is a good hockey team. We took a couple of undisciplined penalties and it cost us.”
The Sting scored the only goal of period one at 6:31 when Reid Boucher recorded his 27th goal of the season. Boucher was left alone in front of the Knights goal and after taking a pass from Charlie Sarault, snapped a low shot between the legs of goalie Jake Paterson.
There were no goals in period two, but not from lack of trying by both clubs. London had the better chances, but Anderson closed the door with four outstanding saves, including stopping Seth Griffith on a breakaway.
A minute and a half into period three, Sarnia took a 2-0 lead, thanks to a highlight-reel goal from Nikolay Goldobin. He took a pass from Boucher, snuck around the defence and slipped the puck into the net. It was Goldobin’s 14th tally of the year.
But the Knights bounced back with three goals.
Alex Broadhurst cut the lead to 2-1 at 5:07 on the power play when his shot from the point appeared to chance directions before going past Anderson.
Bo Horvat tied the game at 8:09 when he finished off a two-on-one rush by the Knights.
Sarnia was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the play and just over a minute later, at 9:38, Horvat scored what turned out to be the game-winner and a wrist shot from close range.
Sarnia had a couple of scoring opportunities down the stretch and enjoyed a power play with 6:19 remaining, but Paterson came up with a couple of his best stops to preserve the London win.
The Knights have now won 24 games in a row.
“We played okay,” said Sting veteran defenceman Alex Basso. “But we allowed those three games in s short span in the third period. “I thought we played pretty good with the lineup we had.”
Basso added, “The good thing is we get another crack at them tomorrow night. We have to be solid for all three periods as they are a good hockey team. We need all our guys going.”
Sarnia finished with a 27-23 edge in shots on goal. London was two-for-four with the man advantage and Sarnia zero-for-three.
The two teams meet again Tuesday night in London.
“We have to put this game behind us and get ready for the next game,” said Letowski. “We have to come out strong early and show them they are in for a game. We know they are a good team and we know what to expect.”
After Tuesday’s game in London the Sting return home Friday night to host the Windsor Spitfires. Game time is 7:05 p.m. at the RBC Centre. The Sting plays at Erie Saturday night and in Niagara Sunday afternoon.
STING NOTES
–    Horvat was first star with Goldobin second star and Anderson third star. Angelo DeAngelo was the Dickie’s hardest working player of the game.
–    Defenceman Craig Duininck assisted on both Sting goals while Ryan Rupert assisted on all three London goals.
–    The Sting had rookie goalie Ryan Hergott, a seventh round pick in 2012 as a backup as rookie Brodie Barrick suffered a broken ankle in a fall on Saturday. He has a cast on and will likely be out of action six to eight weeks.
–    Sarnia, who has now lost back-to-back games by identical 3-2 scores, again played without regulars Alex Galchenyuk, Connor Murphy, Nick Latta and Brett Hargrave, all at international events. Hargrave has a goal and an assist in two games so far with Team Ontario at the World Under-17 Tournament in Quebec.
–    The Sting slipped to 9-9-0-2 on home ice while London is 16-2-0-0 on the road.
–    The Knights lead the season series 2-0 against Sarnia. The teams play four more times.

Dave Borody is a freelance writer who covers Sting games both home and away and also does features for the Sting Website.