Sarnia Falls Short Against 67’s On OHL Hockey Day
By Carl Chimenti
A late marker from Ethan Del Mastro (Chicago Blackhawks) fell one goal short as the Ottawa 67’s (35-9-2-2) held on for dear life to edge the Sarnia Sting (25-15-4-2) 4-3, Sunday afternoon in front of 3,922 at the Progressive Auto Sales Arena.
It was Hockey Day in the Ontario Hockey League, but in the end a penalty shot from Brady Stonehouse at 14:19 spoiled the celebration as Ottawa despite a late charge for Sarnia, saw their six game winning streak snapped.
The Sting managed to out score the 67’s in the third period and had numerous chances in the final couple of minutes but they just could not score the equalizer.
Del Mastro and Nolan Burke (Nashville Predators) both had a goal and an assist for Sarnia. Burke was named the second star of the game.
Sandis Vilmanis (Florida panthers) also scored one goal while Sasha Pastujov (Anaheim Ducks), Luca Del Bel Belluz (Columbus Blue Jackets), Christian Kyrou (Dallas Stars) and Marcus Limpar-Lantz contributed one assist each.
Ottawa out-shot Sarnia 30-28 and Sarnia goaltender Ben Gaudreau (San Jose Sharks) did his best to keep the Sting in the game with 26 saves. He was especially sharp in the third period.
In a scoreless first period, both teams struggled to find both time and space. Ottawa out-shot Sarnia 9-7 and had the best chance to score when forward Luca Pinelli broke in alone but was denied by Gaudreau. The Sting came close late in the period hitting the goal post and they went 0/2 with the man-advantage.
At the end of the first period there was a scrum near the Sting bench with players pushing and shoving and as a result Sarnia was assessed a minor penalty and started the second period shorthanded. Ottawa quickly pounced on the opportunity to score the games first goal from Vinzenz Rohrer (Montreal Canadiens) with Jack Beck (Calgary Flames) and Logan Morrison assisting at 1:09. Ottawa increased their lead to 2-0 on an even strength goal at 6:53. Morrison scored from Matthew Mayich and Beck. Burke sliced the lead in half with a power-play goal top shelf at 13:55. Both Pastujov and Del Bel Belluz assisted. Luca Pinelli got that one back for Ottawa at 17:15 from Caden Kelly and Pavel Mintyukov (Anaheim Ducks) and the 67’s skated off with a 3-1 lead after the first forty minutes. Both teams had 11 shots on goal.
