Oshawa Edges Sarnia 6-5 in Shoot-Out
By Carl Chimenti
Goals from Brett Harrison (Boston Bruins) and Ryan Gagnier in the shoot-out off set a goal from Sasha Pastujov (Anaheim Ducks) as the Oshawa Generals beat the Sarnia Sting 6-5 in front of 3,655, Friday night at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena.
Oshawa scored twice in the third period to go ahead of Sarnia but Ty Voit’s (Toronto Maple Leafs) goal at 11:22 sent the game into overtime and after a scoreless extra session the game went to the shoot-out giving the Generals the win in the final meeting between the two clubs with each team winning on the road 6-5.
In addition to his shoot-out goal Pastujov had a big night with a goal and two assists and for his effort was tabbed the number one star of the game. Voit also had a three-point night that included one goal and was selected as the second star. Ethan Ritchie back from his two-game league-imposed suspension had a goal and an assist and Sandis Vilmanis (Florida Panthers) and rookie Porter Martone scored one goal each. Zach Filak pitched in with two helpers.
Ben Gaudreau (San Jose Sharks) stopped 24 of 29 shots for Sarnia and Patrick Leaver turned away 25 of 30 shots for Oshawa.
Rookie Beckett Sennecke scored a pair of goals and was named second star, Harrison a goal and two assists and Lleyton Moore a goal and an assist for the Generals.
The first period saw both teams trading goals. Oshawa scored the opening goal from Sennecke at 6:01. with Harrison drawing the lone helper.
Sarnia scored late at 17:36 on a delayed penalty call to tie the game at 1-1 through the first twenty minutes. Ritchie finished off a nice three-way passing play to net his sixth of the year. The play started inside the Oshawa end as Pastujov feed a short pass to Voit, who in turn spotted Ritchie at the side of the net and he finished off the play with Sarnia’s first goal in nearly four periods of play.
The second period featured five goals, the first three from Sarnia, before Oshawa scored twice in 50 seconds, late in the period to pull with-in one goal at 4-3.
Martone scored his second of the season on a sensational goal that saw him make a great move on the Oshawa defenseman inside the blue-line and then headed towards the goal showing great hands and patience with the puck beating Leaver at 7:10. Filak assisted on the goal.
The Sting increased their lead to 3-1 on a goal from Vilmanis, his eighth of the season as he tipped a Pastujov shot from in front of the net at 9:33. Alexis Daviault drew the second assist. The lead went to 4-1 as Pastujov scored on a give and go from Voit at 13:41.
Moore at 17:24 and Harrison at 18:14 put Oshawa back in the game despite being out-shot 11-4 in the period.
Sarnia out-shot Oshawa 30-29.
